Burger said: "On about the third day in hospital my wife phoned my family and closest friends and told them to come and say goodbye because I was on my way out. I was conscious of it. But I was literally just fighting from heartbeat to heartbeat. And every heartbeat felt like a knife stabbing in my brain. At times I felt like just stopping, but I could literally feel myself then slipping and would have to fight again."
"I saw it as a fight that I had to win. At that stage there was a lot of confusion, and I think a lot of my motivation was driven by anger. I was also newly married and my eldest son was six months old, so that gives you added motivation to fight and battle through."
He has also dealt with the ignominy of an eye gouge charge, and in personal terms, something far worse when his sister was abducted, beaten and raped by three men in 2008.
Burger says the near-death experience fostered a healthier perspective on life, one where rugby plays a smaller part. His game has not stood still either. Now the Springboks' blindside flanker, the familiar brutal charges with the ball remain, and his tackling statistics are exceptional. He credits playing in Japan for opening up a passing game.
"I never passed the ball before I went to Suntory Goliath. That is where I got up-skilled," he told South African rugby writer Mike Greenaway. "The pace of the game there is so fast that you have to develop quick hands. It is a different type of game to South Africa. It is all about moving the ball."
Victor Matfield (38, debut-2000, 125 tests)
Yes, 38 years old. Remarkable. There are contrasting views about Matfield's contribution around the field. Some say minimal, others say he is under rated. One thing is certain, he has created a new awards category, that of the best lineout forward rugby has seen.
Matfield quit the Springboks after the 2011 World Cup, when they were destroyed in the quarterfinal by the Wallabies' brilliant turnover king David Pocock or referee Bryce Lawrence, depending on your view.
Matfield laced up for the Bulls again last year, encouraged by his old, revered Bulls-coach-turned-Boks-boss Heyneke Meyer. He copped a rebuke for his troubles this season from former test comrade Ollie le Roux who said he was "playing like an old man" and ruining his legacy.
And what a legacy. By the time of his 2011 retirement, he had won everything, his CV including man of the match in the 2007 Word Cup final where he led the sacking of the English lineout. He was also player of that tournament.
Matfield, the record test holder for the Springboks, has the perfect build for a lineout ace, a lean triangular frame of about 110kg being easier than most to hoist and hold.
For many years, he formed a yin and yang partnership with the brutal, bulky Bakkies Botha. Matfield goes against the type of traditional, bulky South African forwards. But his mastery of the lineout - where has claimed his own ball with ease and turned opposing throwers to jelly - made him beyond indispensable.
In a profile in The Times this week, Matfield said he lost 8kg in retirement, and was nervous about the impact he faced on return for the Bulls, where had operated as forwards coach.
"Physically I probably felt better than when I'd retired. I needed a rest. But I was a bit worried about the contact," he said.
"The average weight of the guys in the pack had gone up another five kilos in a couple of years."
At a World Cup camp this year, only centre Jesse Kriel bested the old lock in fitness tests but Matfield's tournament has been hampered by a hamstring problem.
He is no longer the main man - unless injury dictates otherwise, he will be on the bench this Sunday as Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager continue to build another great locking combo.
His influence though, on them and the team, will be immense. Whether he can bring the late game impact that Meyer hopes for remains to be seen, because fourth quarter heroics do not immediately jump out as his calling card.
But Meyer has gushed over his selfless contribution, and Matfield says: "I'm here to play any part I can."
Bryan Habana (32, debut-2004, 115 tests)
There are probably two Bryan Habanas for many. The first is the one we know, the other being the player he might have been in a side with more subtleties to its game. For much of his test career, Habana - now with Toulon - has appeared as a kick chaser, cover defender, intercept wizard par excellence. Blinding speed and anticipation are his chief weapons, packaged in an impressively athletic physique, of wide chest and tapered legs standing out in the modern-day rugby uniform.
As a 2008 Guardian profile portrayed it, Habana had a middle class upbringing, not exactly the norm for black South Africans or those of colour. A moment of sporting transformation occurred for the youngster, when his father took him out of school for a two day road trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town to see the opening game of the 1995 World Cup, between the hosts and 1991 champions Australia. As the Rainbow nation took shape, and the Springboks won, two Afrikaners hugged his dad.
"The next day, the face paint was still stuck to my dad's top," Bryan Habana recalled. The rugby stuck as well, with cricket, football and WWF wresting giving way.
The story around his father's rugby life is too good to overlook here, because it touches on the conundrums that apartheid created and the world Bryan has negotiated. Bernie Habana, a lock for the non-white South African union, revealed he was banned from the team for cheering the all-white Springboks when they played the British Lions in 1980.
The Habanas history included many more revealing anomalies, and far too many to describe here. Habana said: "My parents tried to shelter us...I only understood at a later stage about the apartheid era."
A year before this interview, Habana had burst onto the World Cup stage, with eight tries - including four against Samoa - as the Springboks won the trophy. Eight years later, he is on the verge of breaking Jonah Lomu's record of 15 World Cup tries. On the test field, he is a rapier who thrives on his wits, with a game plan that sometimes looks like his his own. Off it, he hopes to inspire unity and and has dedicated the semifinal to a Springboks supporter murdered by a gang. In both, he is not big on steps that don't go forward.
"We are playing for each other as a team and for all South Africans from all walks of life who experience the highs and lows of life on a daily basis, but this week there is one fan who is particularly in our thoughts," Habana told a news conference.
Fourie du Preez (33, debut-2004, 75 tests)
Coach Heyneke Meyer bypassed the pencil when it came to Fourie du Preez and used indelible ink, even though his star halfback was wracked by injury. As the Rand Daily Mail put it: "Meyer admitted...he had been on his knees begging du Preez to push himself beyond the limits of what he knew possible to make it to England."
Another of the 2007 World Cup winners, du Preez is also from Meyer's inner circle, who rose to prominence with the Pretoria-based Bulls. The immaculate halfback stepped away from the spotlight to play in Japan after the last World Cup and his international appearances have been limited by injuries including ankle, shoulder and severe knee problems. But he has quickly assumed huge importance to the 'Boks World Cup hopes, having to step up after the loss to Japan, and taking over the captaincy from the injured Jean de Villiers and Victor Matfield.
"I have worked very hard since last June when I had an almost career-ending (knee) injury, so two or three weeks before the World Cup I wasn't sure if I was going to be here," du Preez said before the quarter-final against Wales, where he ran off No. 8 Duane Vermeulen for a pre-planned, matchwinning try.
Reflecting South Africa's relatively relaxed attitude to players heading overseas, du Preez has essentially been allowed to plot his own path since the 2011 tournament. Playing in Japan allowed him to recharge the batteries and work on refinements to his game, and he developed his own fitness regime when returning to South Africa.
Injuries were a big worry, but by the looks he has got the timing just right and he is - without any shadow of a doubt - the central figure in the South African game plan. Wales defensive coach Shaun Edwards is among those who have labelled du Preez a "genius", a wizard of the laid back variety.
There are many elements to his game of course, fine tactical kicking being one. But it is his composure which stands out. The image of the wildly emotional Meyer, whose histrionics during matches border on scary, make a stunning contrast to his impassive general.
If there is a footballer du Preez reminds me of, it is the great Australian rugby league captain and dummy half Cameron Smith, who plots with head-up poise, patiently pulling opponents apart. Vermeulen has also been sidelined this year by injury, and the late move against Wales revealed a redoubtable halfback/No. 8 combination that will attempt to run the show against the All Blacks.
Bismarck du Plessis (31, debut-2007, 77 tests)
The indomitable du Plessis is a distinctive character in world rugby whose selection for the semifinal says much about how the Springboks intend to play. Something of a cult figure around the rugby world, he has not been quite the permanent front row selection that was expected. This was highlighted again at the World Cup, when he paid the selection price after South Africa's extraordinary opening loss to Japan.
There is an upright belligerence to du Plessis. His Christian name, of the famous German battleship, adds to the aura. A few dark deeds are also on the record, ones that have drawn critics especially of his leadership value. He is an imposing man, yet should South Africa fail to lift the Webb Ellis trophy this time, his career will probably seem to have fallen short of true expectations.
Du Plessis emerged in the shadow of the Sharks and South African great John Smit, a rare beast who could play hooker and prop. Du Plessis got a late call up to the 2007 World Cup squad and spent a few minutes on the field in the final victory over England, but there is still an asterisk next to his name when it comes to his full claims to the world trophy.
His major challenger has been Adriaan Strauss, whose more mobile game has won favour with Heyneke Meyer at times. There are also a few questions about the effectiveness of du Plessis' upright manner going into contact, where he relies on brute strength which usually keeps the ball safe, but delivers it a little slowly.
Bismarck is extremely close to his brother, the Springbok prop Jannie, and the pair is about to join French club Montpellier. In a 2013 piece by David Walsh in The Times, the brothers talked of how they had run the family farm near Durban since teenagers because of their father's Parkinson's. Jannie, as is well known, is also a surgeon. Bismarck has worked as a broker, in between the morning and evening training sessions.
They are a tough and determined breed, and Bismarck's friends include Andrew Hore, the ex All Black hooker from farming country, a kindred spirit.
You easily imagine that Bismarck has been a dominant figure wherever he has gone, but life is full of surprises.
After playing his last game for the Sharks, he revealed: "I was once the seventh-choice hooker at the Cheetahs and now I am told I am among the best in the world."
Then again, the Cheetahs are flamboyant by South African standards, and Adriaan Strauss certainly thrived there. Bismarck du Plessis is more from the old Springboks school.
