London: Shaggy-haired Jacques Burger became renowned for his fearlessness. His willingness to put his body on the line earned him a misshapen nose and legions of fans wherever he played rugby.
That unflagging determination by Namibia’s captain to show so little disregard for his own safety caught up with him on Thursday, when he retired from international rugby because a concussion ruled him out of their last World Cup pool match on Sunday, when he expected to finish.
Even Burger loved the irony.
“Probably fitting that i finish my international career with a K.O in the 1st 10 mins. Story of my life. I LOVE THIS GAME!” he tweeted.
He suffered a confirmed concussion making a tackle nine minutes into the Pool C match against Georgia on Wednesday in Exeter, and walked off. Forced to miss the winless Namibians’ last tournament outing against Argentina on Sunday in Leicester, he said he’d played his last match for his country.
“It was a huge disappointment that I could not complete last night’s match and an even bigger disappointment that I will not be able to play on Sunday,” Burger said in a statement from the Namibian Rugby Union. “I am very proud of my team, and it is not the way that you would want to end an international career. But that’s the game of rugby for you.
“I was really hoping to finish my international career in style, the emotions were building up to the match on Sunday, and to have it ended abruptly like this after just 10 minutes is a bit of a setback.”
This was Burger’s third Rugby World Cup, and his 11th Cup appearance on Wednesday equalled the national record.
He was also captain at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, where he effectively played on one leg because of pain in his right knee, and was still considered one of the players of the tournament. Afterward, he underwent a high tibial osteotomy, which involves breaking the shinbone, and it is like realigning a bowlegged knee into a knock-kneed position.
It took him 18 months to return. Nobody doubted he would.
He stills plays for English club champion Saracens, but he ends an 11-year international career, half of his caps as captain, for a team far from the limelight, and still chasing a first win in the Rugby World Cup.
“I have no regrets,” he said, “I have had a wonderful time playing for Namibia with my friends.”
