Bakkies Botha says farewell 'could not have been better'

It was an emotional farewell for Bakkies Botha, who played his last professional game against the Springboks in Cape Town on Saturday.

It was a game in which the World XV were made to work hard by the Springboks, who ran out 46-10 winners after a Willie le Roux hat-trick.

Former Toulon second rower Botha had tears in his eyes at the conclusion of the match, as he said goodbye to the game in front of the faithful Springboks fans.

"I am leaving the wonderful game of rugby with peace in my heart," said Botha. "My farewell could not have been any better than this - playing against the Springboks in South Africa.

"The Springboks were very good today and from now on I am going to support them wholeheartedly.

"It was great to see Jean (de Villiers) back in the green and gold and I wish him and the rest of the boys all the best at the World Cup."

De Villiers made an astonishing comeback to the game after suffering a horrible knee injury against Wales in November, and the Springbok veteran was treated to a standing ovation as he entered the fray in the second half.

"It was awesome to be back," said the 34-year-old De Villiers, who set up one of Le Roux's tries.

"I felt fine and it was very emotional running on to the field with the crowd cheering me. It is so nice to be back."

With De Villiers injured the captaincy was handed to the Springboks' most capped player, Victor Matfield, who was reasonably happy with the performance of his troops, but warned that improvements needed to be made ahead of the Rugby Championship.

"There were a lot of mistakes and we must study the match video and correct them quickly," said Matfield. "We need to sharpen up before facing Australia."

"The performances of Jesse (Kriel) and Vincent (Koch) were among the positives.

"I thought Damian de Allende also did very well, and it was great to see Jean back in action after a long injury lay-off."