South Africa skipper John Smit says the Springboks will do anything they can to support Joost van der Westhuizen after the former scrum half was given two to five years to live.

South African media reports say the 40-year-old World Cup winner, who played 89 Tests for his country between 1993 and 2003, was confirmed as suffering from an incurable motor neuron disease by an expert in the United States.

"It's tragic for a guy of his stature," Smit told reporters on Friday in Wellington, where the Springboks play the All Blacks in a Tri Nations Test this weekend.

"I've been in touch with Joost quite a bit and it's sad to think about what he was and what he's going to be.

"I spoke to him some weeks ago and you can see the deterioration already. It's traumatic for an individual like that, a young father.

"We'll do whatever we can when we get back to support him."

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease after the New York Yankees baseball player who died from it in 1940, is a degenerative disease which usually results in death from respiratory problems.

Van der Westhuizen, the first of the big international scrum-halves who now largely dominate the game, was famous for his aggressive sniping around the fringes and fierce tackling.

Part of the Springboks' World Cup-winning team of 1995 before captaining his country at the 1999 World Cup, he still shares the record of most Test tries (38) scored by a South African along with winger Bryan Habana.

Reuters