André Venter

André Venter
Birth name	André Gerhardus Venter
Date of birth	14 November 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth	Vereeniging, South Africa
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	131 kg (20 st 9 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	Flanker
Senior career
Years	Team
1997–2002; 1998–2001	Free State Cheetahs; Cats
	Correct as of 11 October 2012
International career
Years	Team
1996–2001	South Africa
	Correct as of 11 October 2012

André Gerhardus Venter (born 14 November 1970 in Vereeniging, South Africa) is a former South African rugby union footballer who earned 66 caps playing for the South Africa national team during the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s.^[1] He represented South Africa during the 1999 Rugby World Cup where they finished third.

Bill McLaren once said that "He's no oil painting, but look at him working the blind side like a pop-up toaster!^[2]

A few years after his retirement he was diagnosed with a degenerative syndrome of the central nervous system, later revealed to be transverse myelitis, which causes damage to the spine, and forced him into a wheelchair. Later, his former Springbok teammate, Joost van der Westhuizen developed a degenerative nervous disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.^[3]

References

^ "André Venter - South Africa". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2012-10-11.
^ "He's like a demented ferret up a wee drainpipe". The Sun. 26 September 2012. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
^ "Van der Westhuizen diagnosed with motor neurone". RTÉ-ie. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

[caps-1] "André Venter - South Africa". ESPN Scrum. Retrieved 2012-10-11.

[2] "He's like a demented ferret up a wee drainpipe". The Sun. 26 September 2012. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

[3] "Van der Westhuizen diagnosed with motor neurone". RTÉ-ie. 12 May 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2012.

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