Joe van Niekerk Biography

Joe van Niekerk aka “Big Joe” was always an enigma, a one of a kind. A loose-forward with silky hands and explosive pace. 

As a young budding rugby player he got catapulted straight from the junior ranks at under 21 level to Springbok rugby. And if that was not extra-ordinary enough, his life to follow was even more out of this world. 

This is the story of an ex-Springbok rugby player that became the owner of a healing sanctuary in Costa Rica, a spiritual guide with a Rasta heart, a jungle man. It’s not the conventional retirement of choice for former rugby stars.

Joe van Niekerk was a back-rower who played 52 Tests for the Springboks and was known on the rugby fields across the world for his fearless runs off the fringes and stomach-churning tackles.

The Port Elizabeth-born, Johannesburg-raised loose-forward was somewhat of a prodigy. He was a sublime school sportsman and ended up representing his country at all levels in rugby. By the time Joe van Niekerk was 21 years old, he was lining up for the Springboks against the old foe, the mighty All Blacks.

Regarded as one of the most dynamic and tenacious loose forwards in South African rugby, Van Niekerk was known for his pace, ball skills and all-round knowledge of the game.

He won recognition for his rugby prowess throughout his career. In 2002 he was named South Africa's Player of the Year as well as being nominated as one of the International Rugby Board's five players of the year. Joe van Niekerk was named Player of the SANZAR/UAR U21 Championships in 2001 and was the Springboks' top player of the 2003 World Cup before an injury suffered against Samoa brought a premature end to his tournament.

Van Niekerk experienced injury troubles throughout his senior-level career. When healthy, however, he was considered able to compete with virtually any back-row player in the world. Joe van Niekerk scored important tries for the 'Boks in home wins over the Wallabies in the 2002 Tri Nations Series and the 2004 Tri Nations Series. 

His provincial career saw him represent the Lions in 2002 and 2003 before joining his beloved Stormers in Cape Town. Then followed four years of trying to overcome massive injury set-backs. 

He was expected to play for the Northampton Saints having signed with them in May of 2007, but his contract was terminated before he arrived, reportedly because of constant injury problems. He briefly returned for a short stint with the Lions before joining Toulon in France.

After the 2014 Heineken Cup final, Joe van Niekerk ended his professional career in Toulon, a place where he blossomed and matured into a fine-player and club leader. Towards the end, his body could also not take the bashing much longer, or deal with the intake of prescriptive medicines he was relying on every day to help recover from matches. 

The day Joe van Niekerk stopped playing rugby, he went on a strict vegan diet, stopped taking all his prescriptive medicines, and started cleansing his body. 

And thus started a new journey for the man they called “Big Joe” van Niekerk.