André Venter being pushed into the church in his wheelchair by Wahl Bartmann. (Photo: Christiaan Kotzé)

Sarel van der Walt

Johannesburg – Springbok rugby on Wednesday laid former hero Ruben Kruger to rest in Pretoria after the 39-year-old lost his 10-year battle with brain cancer last week.

In fact, there were so many former Springboks, former Springbok coaches, rugby administrators and erstwhile team-mates and opponents of Kruger – a member of the 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok team – that they could have filled out a few tour buses.

Just about all the members of Francois Pienaar’s 1995 World Cup Springboks were present.

Pienaar, who visited Kruger in hospital shortly before his death, could not attend the funeral as he was in Europe.

Gysie Pienaar, a former Springbok and assistant coach of the 1995 team, sent an apology from China for not being able to be there.

Former Springbok captain and 1995 team manager Morné du Plessis said in his tribute that former South African rugby boss Danie Craven had said that it is one thing to become a Springbok, but quite another to be a good one.

“Doc Craven would probably have agreed with me that Ruben Kruger was one of the greats. He is renowned from London and Edinburgh through to Auckland.”

Kruger was South Africa’s rugby player of the year in the season that they won the World Cup for the first time.

Du Plessis arrived at the funeral with another member of the 1995 team Kobus Wiese and former Springbok Toks van der Linde.

Apart from Du Plessis, several other former Springbok captains like Wynand Claassen, Naas Botha, Gary Teichmann and Joost van der Westhuizen also attended the funeral.

Blue Bulls president Boet Fick, several of his predecessors and numerous current and former Springboks and Bulls players also came to pay their last respects to the Silent Assassin.

Even his old school – Grey College in Bloemfontein – sent a delegation. The school and its former pupils held a moment’s silence world-wide at 10am when the funeral started.

“Ruben is finally over the goal-line – that which we are all destined for,” said pastor At Boshoff at the funeral service at the Christian Reformed Church in Pretoria-East.

“You knew where Ruben stood when he spoke. He knew his God,” said Boshoff.

“Shortly before his death, when he emerged from a deep sleep – or perhaps rather a coma – he told Lizel (his wife): ‘I dreamed – it’s big, big, big!’”

Lizel Kruger said in her tribute to her husband: “Earthly possessions were not important to you. We were proud of you. Not because you were a Springbok rugby player but because you were a Springbok dad. In your life you never said anything bad to or about me.”

His two daughters, Zoë and Isabella, wrote in their funeral letter: “Thank you that we could lie in your arms every morning and ride with you in the bakkie every day.”

One of the most moving moments was when another former Springbok flanker, André Venter, was pushed into the church in his wheelchair by Wahl Bartmann.

Venter also delivered a tribute: “Ruben was a remarkable person. My wife and I visited him and Lizel in Pretoria in December. He prayed for me in spite of all his pain. That sums up his life. It does not matter what his situation was – he always thought of a fellow human being before himself.

“He was not just a legend on the field, but a legend of life. Ruben, when I get to heaven one day, I want to be in the same team as you again.”

Kruger will be buried on Thursday on the farm where he was born near Vrede in the North-East Free State.