One of South Africa's stars of their historic 1995 Rugby World Cup final win over the All Blacks has died at the age of 50.
Wing James Small carved his name into Springboks folklore at Ellis Park 24 years ago for his heroic defence against rampaging New Zealand wing Jonah Lomu.
Tough nut Small played 47 Tests for the Springboks between 1992 and 1997 scoring 20 tries.
He became the first Springbok to ever be sent off, after he argued with English referee Ed Morrison.
News broke of Small's death in South Africa on Wednesday.
He is believed to have suffered a heart attack.
Small’s mother, Vaughn Small, confirmed the news of her son’s death to a newspaper outlets in his homeland.
Small was reported to be in Cape Town and on his way to Johannesburg where he lived with his 14-year-old daughter Ruby.
He represented Lions (formerly Transvaal), Sharks and Western Province at provincial level.
Small is the third member of that Springbok team to have died - Ruben Kruger died from brain cancer in 2010 and Joost van der Westhuizen from motor neurone disease in 2017.
