Muristek
After becoming a European champion, Van Niekerk retired and travelled the world in a campervan looking for the pure life
By Jonathan Drennan for the Guardian Sport Network
Joe van Niekerk’s rugby career ended seven years ago with Toulon winning the French championship and European Cup. It was a fairytale finish for a player who had regularly led a cast of rugby superstars, including Bryan Habana and Jonny Wilkinson, to success. The South African had captained the club for four years but in his final season he knew that, while the spotlight continued to blare down on his teammates in the picturesque port French city, it was slowly dimming on him. Time was moving on ruthlessly. Van Niekerk celebrated the successes with his teammates heartily and then exited the stage quietly. He was barely seen for the next two years.
Van Niekerk emerged from those two years a different man, both physically and mentally. “Nobody had seen me for a very long time,” he remembers. “I spent that time really getting to grips with my mind and my body. I was getting comfortable with solitude, and studying yogis. I needed to cleanse my body from the absolute carnage of 15 years of professional rugby.
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