By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former Springboks flyhalf Derick Hougaard has been in a coma in a Pretoria hospital for a week, and friends and family are praying for a full recovery.
Singer, Nadine, who was in a relationship with Hougaard, has confirmed that Hougaard was admitted to hospital on Saturday 10 June.
“Yes, Derick has been in hospital since last Saturday, he is in the ICU ward with respiratory pneumonia. He has wonderful doctors and nurses working on him.
We appreciate everybody’s support and prayers including positive messages on social media. At this point we can only pray and hope for the best,” said Nadine.
Known affectionately as the ‘Liefling of Loftus’, Hougaard played over 100 games for the Bulls between 2002 and 2008.
In the 2002 Currie Cup final against the Golden Lions, Hougaard broke Naas Botha’s 15-year record for points scored in a Currie Cup final, when he scored 26 points – two more than Botha’s record.
He made his test debut for the Springboks during the 2003 Rugby World cup, when he was 20 years old.
In 2007, Hougaard became the true darling of Loftus, when he scored all of the Bulls’ 27 points during a Super 14 se-final against the Crusaders.
Hougaard left the Bulls to join Leicester in England in 2008, and he also later played for Saracens until 2010, but after a series of injuries, he officially retired in 2015.