Chased by a Springbok. Former SA captain Jean de Villiers seen chasing down a suspected thief. Photos: Video/the Boer & Butcher shop
Jean de Villiers hilariously recounts catching shoplifter
Former Springbok Jean de Villiers, who has been trending in South Africa after apprehending a shoplifter, has shared his side of the story.
Chased by a Springbok. Former SA captain Jean de Villiers seen chasing down a suspected thief. Photos: Video/the Boer & Butcher shop
In news that has gone viral this week, Netwerk24 first reported on how Jean de Villiers – who captained the Springbok team on 37 occasions- had grown suspicious of a man who was seemingly slipping items into his pockets before walking out of The Boer & Butcher shop in Paarl on 23 January.
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De Villiers and his wife Marlie, who are regular customers, were at the checkout when the well-known former Springbok and Stormers captain spotted the man acting suspiciously.
Screenshots from surveillance footage show the 41-year-old – who is still in top shape – running after the suspect, and losing his flip flops in the process, before returning and handing him over to security.
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The story has been widely shared across the globe, and on Friday morning, De Villiers spoke to KFM Radio about the widespread responses to his heroics.
The former centre – who is well-known for his witty sense of humour – first joked that he had once thought he was relatively famous as a rugby player, but now realised he actually needed to catch a shoplifter to really receive lots of fanfare.
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Many South Africans who have responded to the videos and images of De Villiers’ actions have also made fun of how he ran after the shoplifter while wearing slops. “I heard this morning someone said that I was wearing Havaianas, but no, it was Adidas,” he laughed when chatting to KFM.
Radio presenter Darren Simpson also joked with De Villiers, and suggested he must have been worried about suffering a knee injury during the chase, with the former Stormers and Springbok midfielder having battled with knee injuries during his career.
“That’s what I was also thinking,” De Villiers said with a laugh.
“I got myself into this position and I was just trying to do a good deed. I thought I would just tap the guy on his shoulder and say ‘listen buddy, I saw what you did, don’t you want to go for the ribeye special rather than the chocolates’. But when I got closer he started running and then I realised flip I’m too deep into this now not to do anything. So I had to run, and was just praying my knees would hold up.”
“Then halfway into the chase I saw there was a massive queue at Home Affairs, and then I thought what if I can’t catch the dude. That would be pretty embarrassing, but luckily it all turned out well,” he added as his continued to humorously recount what happened.
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However, De Villiers said there was also a more serious side to the story.
“It’s actually a South African story. I would like to think every South African would do something when they see something like that happening. We’re so quick to complain about the wrongs in our country, but if we don’t do anything about it, then it won’t get better. So I’d like to think most people would have done exactly the same thing.”
On one final comical note, De Villiers shared one of the responses he had received on a WhatsApp group that includes members of the 2007 Rugby World Cup team.
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“When something like this happens, there are obviously a lot of the guys commenting on it. So, my good friend Jaque Fourie, who I played a lot of Test matches with, he reckons that I would have been better if I had played rugby with Plakkies on.”
The butchery has shared some edited footage of the incident, showing the actions of De Villiers, while also hailing him as ‘Superman’ for his heroics.
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You can see images of Jean de Villiers’ heroics below:
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Jean de Villiers is one of the most well-known former South African rugby players, having featured in 109 Tests between 2002 and 2015. He was renowned for his ability to read the game and for often scoring incredible intercept tries.
The centre was also one of the most loyal servants of Western Province and Stormers rugby, featuring in over 100 games for the Cape franchise.
