Joost van der Westhuizen

Born: 20/2/71 Position: Scrum-half Team: Blue Bulls Debut: 6/11/93 v Argentina Past World Cups: 1995 and 1999 Did you know? Van der Westhuizen is a devout Christian

Aside from arguably the finest name in world rugby today, Van der Westhuizen is still one of the great scrum-halves.

Admittedly he lacks the same pace and bite of his early career since major knee surgery at the start of last year, but he is rarely dwarfed by opposition number nines.

Coach Rudolf Straueli has already made it clear Van der Westhuizen will feature strongly after naming him captain for the friendly against Scotland back in June.

Before that, he had not played for the Springboks since the end of 2001 against the United States.

Straueli, though, has made it clear the captain's armband is only on loan, with Corne Krige due to take over the mantle for the World Cup.

Van der Westhuizen will still send fear through even the best defences, with his speed on the break and his ability to find a way through to the try line.

In the process he has become South Africa's leading ever try scorer with 35.