Big Joe van Niekerk, a name Hugh Bladen used to love roaring out as the Springbok loose forward barrelled over the try line. Not that we’ve heard it very often of late, Joe plying his trade over in France for club side Toulon before hanging up his boots last year.

Now yesterday was something of an odd day as our inbox became flooded with readers sending in a picture of Joe – no less than six separate emails to be precise. Then there were the Whatsapps – 16 amongst the staff in the office at the time and over the course of the evening.

First off let’s see the picture that seems to be doing the rounds.

Many of the messages we received were accompanied by comments from people saying he didn’t look very well, some asking if we knew anything about the origin of the picture and any kind of story behind it.

We contacted Joe for comment but as of yet have received a response.

In case you’re not so sure that is actually Big Joe above then check this photo of him on the field for Toulon. Same tattoo you see…

We’re asking around and seeing what we can rustle up but if you know more than we do free to drop us a line at editor@2oceansvibe.com.

Here’s hoping it’s nothing more than a deceptive photo, Joe put in a great shift for the Boks and always proved popular off the park.