Rugby World Cup winner Kobus Wiese is recovering in a Cape Town hospital after suffering a heart attack, fellow former Springbok Toks van der Linde said on Thursday, according to EWN.

On Wednesday the 56-year-old TV presenter, businessman, and former lock forward was admitted to a hospital in Paarl, his birthplace, and transferred the same day to Cape Town.

Van der Linde said Wiese underwent a procedure to have an intravascular stent inserted into a narrowed vein.

“I spoke to Kobus this (Thursday) morning and he is okay‚” Van der Linde told the Netwerk24 website. “He is a big pal of mine. We have been friends since 1995. He is a strong man.”

Wiese played for South Africa 18 times (only being on the losing side twice) between 1993 and 1996, including the extra-time triumph over New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in Johannesburg.

In a 13-year provincial career, the 125-kilogram, 1.99-metre forward made 158 match appearances for Boland, Western Transvaal, Transvaal, and the Golden Lions.


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