Jake pens open letter after health scare: 'Sport is not life and death, your next heartbeat is'

Bulls director of rugby Jake White says his recent health scare has made him look at life from a different perspective.

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White underwent emergency surgery earlier this year after a blood clot caused problems with his small intestine.

The Bulls mentor has since recovered and is set to re-join the Pretoria franchise this week.

But he feels lucky to be alive and has penned an open letter to shed more light on his ordeal.

"For most of my career as a coach, a rugby match was like life and death for me. The next try was life or death for me. But when you're lying in intensive care with tubes stuck down your throat, you quickly realise what life and death really comes down to. It's not that next try. It's that very next heartbeat, and your hope that it will happen.

"I started feeling sick around the time of the United Rugby Championship match against the Stormers shortly before Christmas last year. That following week going into the match against the Sharks I would go to training and then come back home and just sleep. It became progressively worse to the point that when we arrived in Wales for our tour I couldn't even get out of bed. 

"I thought it might be Covid, but I started to get severe stomach cramps. We had no sooner landed back home in South Africa after the tour than I was taken to hospital for emergency abdominal surgery caused by a blood clot in my small intestine.

"This experience has changed everything for me because it's hit home to me just how lucky I am to be alive. You know, as a coach your job is to motivate your players and you can often slip into those textbook sayings or speeches you often see in the movies. You know the ones. 'Guys, let's die for each