A World Cup medal; an IRB Under-21 World Cup; an unmatched trio of awards in a single year (SA Rugby Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and the Players' Player of the Year in 2003) — Ashwin Willemse's rugby record should speak for itself.
The retired wing's walkout during a live SuperSport broadcast on Saturday caused a furore, with the national discourse once again focused on race.
He took a stand on air, apparently against "quota players" comments by fellow presenters Nick Mallett and Naas Botha, saying he would not be "patronised by two individuals who played in the apartheid/segregated era" and would not be "undermined".
But why exactly would he feel patronised and undermined? Well, one reason may be because his illustrious career and unprecedented personal achievements should make it obvious to anyone with half a rugby brain that Willemse himself was no "quota player".
Here is a look at his career as one of SA's finest in the backline.
Metoric rise
Willemse was born on September 8 1981 in Caledon, Western Cape, and grew up in a shack with his mother and grandparents, surrounded by poverty and gang violence. His father left when he was two years old, and in his autobiography released in 2015, he admitted that as a teen he was drawn into the surrogate family of the Americans gang, despite his strict home life.
He was saved from the path of drug-dealing and violent conflict by the determination of his grandparents, he said, as well as his rugby coach at school — a mentor who never gave up on him. It was his success at schoolboy rugby and at Craven Week that gradually pulled him out of the gangster life.
He started his professional career playing for Boland Kavaliers in 2000, aged just 18. He was considered a prodigy for his electric pace and power, and as a result was selected for SA team in the 2002 IRB Under-21 World Cup, which the Baby Boks subsequently won.
In fact, 2003 was Willemse's golden year; he was at the peak of his powers playing Super Rugby for the Cats, and it was the year the rugby fraternity realised that he was the real deal. It was also in June that year that he made his Springbok debut against Scotland, at the age of 21, and the rest is history.
He terrorised defences, played some eye-catching rugby and ultimately won big at the 2003 SA Rugby awards — he was named Player of the Year, Most Promising Player of the Year and Players' Player of the Year; an unprecedented triple.
Injuries and disappointments
After two years with the Kavaliers, Willemse was also snapped up by Johannesburg in 2003, and he represented the Golden Lions — or the Cats, in SuperSport — for the remainder of his South African domestic career.
He played his first IRB World Cup with the Boks in Australia in 2003 — although a somewhat flaccid campaign saw SA fall short in the semi-finals against New Zealand, so it's a World Cup many Springbok fans would rather forget. However, they won't forget the match against Samoa, or Willemse's magnificent solo try.
His career hit a roadblock when he was injured for the most of the 2004-2006 seasons, but he recovered to be selected for his second World Cup in 2007 — at which for the first time since 1995, the Springboks once again took the trophy.
Twilight years
Despite being in the 2007 squad, and taking home a medal along with the rest of the team after they won the William Webb Ellis Trophy, Willemse was not played once by coach Jake White throughout the tournament.
That may have been part of the reason why the wing was one of a long list of SA players to make an exodus to the northern hemisphere after the World Cup win.
He joined French club Biarritz Olympique, but returned to the Golden Lions and eventually retired from rugby in 2009.
In total, he made 19 appearances for the Boks, scored 20 points, won two World Cups (at junior and senior level) and took the three top SA Rugby Awards in one year; the first player in history to do so.
With a record like that, can he be blamed if he objects to smug, snide cracks about "quota players"?
