wing was Jonah Lomu, an emergent talent, capable of making powerful runs from deep. Lomu was effectively marked and Van der Westhuizen made several tackles, including one just outside the 22m line. In 1997, he captained South Africa's Sevens team to the final at the 1997 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong, where they were beaten by Fiji. Van der Westhuizen was part of the team that won South Africa's first Tri-Nations series title in 1998. He captained the Bulls to the 1998 Currie Cup. He first captained the South Africa team in 1999. That year South Africa finished third at the World Cup. After the tournament he discovered he had sustained a serious injury to ligaments in his knee in a match a fortnight earlier. Injuries sustained while on international duty led to him missing the greater parts of three consecutive Super 12 seasons in 1998, 1999 and 2000. In November 2001, he became the first person to play one hundred matches for the Springboks. Welsh club side Newport RFC had tried to sign him in 2001, but there was pressure on him to play his domestic rugby in South Africa, to be eligible for selection for the national side. His selection for the 2003 World Cup made him the first person to represent South Africa at three finals. The team met the All Blacks in the quarter-finals and were beaten. In November 2003, van der Westhuizen retired from international rugby, at which point he was South Africa's record test cap holder with 89, and record test try scorer with 38. He had made 111 appearances for South Africa in total, captained them in ten tests, and scored 190 points for his country. International statistics Test Match Record Pld = Games Played, W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Tri = Tries Scored, Pts = Points Scored Test tries (38) World Cup matches Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Awards and honours He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2007, and in 2015 became a member of the World Rugby Hall of Fame when the International Hall was merged with it. Private life and controversy In 2001, he and his wife of six years, Marlene, divorced, shortly before he married Amor Vittone. He had two children with Vittone. In February 2009, Rapport newspaper and Heat magazine reported that they