Former Springbok Lukas van Biljon stabbed several times in home invasion

Former Springbok Lukas van Biljon was repeatedly stabbed and his father shot during a robbery at his farm in South Africa.

The former Springboks hooker, 47, was reportedly stabbed several times by a gang of six men who stormed his farm. Reports state the former rugby player's children were tied up and threatened.

The ex-hooker's 70-year-old dad tried to make a desperate call to fellow farmers for help on the radio but was spotted and shot three times in the chest and hand.

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He remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Two attackers were apprehended at the scene.

"Just after midnight on Saturday the police were called to a robbery at a smallholding at Oranjeville belonging to the Van Biljon family where two men were injured," South African Police spokesman Captain Loraine Earle said.

"It is alleged six armed men entered the house and tied the children with cable ties and a 47-year-old man was stabbed and his 70-year-old father shot during the robbery."

The former hooker played 13 times for South Africa between 2001 and 2003 with his first game in Italy and his last in New Zealand.

"Lukas is a big strong boy but he could do nothing as it was made clear his children would be shot if he put up a fight," a farmer who knows the Van Biljon family told The Sun.

"He was still stabbed several times but it is father Andre who is the worry as he is in intensive care in a very bad way from gunshots".

The two arrested suspects were charged with house robbery and attempted murder while the other four remain at large.