South Africa Rugby World Cup winner Chester Williams dies

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Chester Williams, the only black player on South Africa’s famed 1995 Rugby World Cup winning team, has died of a heart attack. He was 49.

SA Rugby announced Williams’ death and said he died on Friday in Cape Town.

Williams became one of the faces of the new South Africa when the Springboks won the World Cup on home soil in front of Nelson Mandela. It was just a year after apartheid officially ended and South Africa elected Mandela as president in its first all-race elections.

Williams had nearly not played in the World Cup having initially been left out of the squad because of injury. He recovered in time for the quarterfinals and scored four tries in the quarterfinal win over Western Samoa.

Williams played 27 tests for South Africa from 1993 to 2000 and scored 14 test tries.

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