As he was making his way off the field after being part of his seventh Springbok victory in nine Tests against England, Bakkies Botha, pictured, knew that he had had enough.
The 35-year-old Bok stalwart announced his retirement immediately after the Boks battled to a 22-6 victory over Italy, a match that could’ve been his on-field farewell.
Renowned for his dry humour and speaking about himself in the third person, Botha quipped: “Bakkies Botha can say that he retired on a good note. To make the decision knowing that I was still good enough to be picked for the Springboks. And I still went out on a high, and it was a dream of mine to not retire from the Springboks while there’s a 50/50 call about who needs to be chosen.
“The day when I asked my wife and told her I’m playing around with the idea, her words to me were: ‘My angel, I just want you to be happy’. And I sit here tonight happy to be part of the squad and I think I did the right thing to make the call at the end of the day.
“As they say, Bakkies Botha decides what to do, and I decided to finish up with international rugby!”
Botha, who won 85 Test caps in total to be the seventh most-capped Bok, stated that he even caught Heyneke Meyers unawares when he informed him last Monday. “I didn’t announce it immediately on the Monday when I had the one-on-one with Coach Heyneke. I said to him: ‘That’s me’, and I think it was a big surprise for him as well, but for me, to go out of my international career on a high, I think I did that,” he said.
“It was an emotional week for me, but it is wonderful for me to say that I had a great career. And from here, it’s just a new life that will start for me. I have about seven months left with Toulon, so I want to finish up there and then go home.
“I think I can now say that my wife has her husband back and my children have a father! I can be nice and relaxed now, although there is still hard work left at Toulon, but then I can go home and just support the Springboks”. - The Star