Powerful Klippies passes
He was admitted with rare Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, resulting in the weakening of muscles. He did not survive the attack.
Klippies grew up in the Free State, went to school in Harrismith, played for Orange Free State at the 1967 Craven Week.
He was playing for Durban Collegians when chosen for Natal and then for the 1972 Gazelles who toured Argentina.
He also played for the Junior Springboks.
He also played for several provinces in his career – Natal, Transvaal, Free State, Northern Free State and Western Transvaal.
He was playing for Transvaal in 1974 when he was chosen for the battered Springboks against the might of the 1974 B&I Lions. He played in the Port Elizabeth Test at No.8 with Gerrie Sonnekus at scrumhalf, a test with lots of fighting as the Lions called their infamous 99 call.
Kritzinger joined in and knocked out the great Gordon Brown.
He was on the flank with Kleintjie Grobler at No.8, the fourth Springbok No.8 in four tests, for the drawn fourth Test at Ellis Park.
He then was chosen for the resurrection tour to France later that year, playing in seven matches, including the Tests in Toulouse and Paris, both won by the Springboks.
In 1975 he moved to the Free State and captained them in the very first match he played for them. That year he played twice against France in the victories in Bloemfontein and Pretoria.
Then came the All Blacks in 1976 and Kritzinger played in the controversial fourth Test at Ellis Park when the Springboks won 15-14 to take the series 3-1. It was Kritzinger's only Test in the series and the last he played as Springbok rugby went into a three-year hibernation.
Johannes Lodewyk Kritzinger was born in Harrismith on 1 March 1948. His brother became General WG Kritzinger of the South African Defence Force. In his time Klippies was a salesman, a business broker and a garage owner. He died in Centurion on 17 February 2016, survived by his wife Valerie and their children, daughter Hilané and son Johannes Hermanus, names he inherited from Klippies's father.
