Bakkies: Coaching not for me

Cape Town - Saturday's clash between the Springboks and the World XV at Newlands will, in all probability, be the last time that we see Bakkies Botha strutting his stuff on South African soil. 

He has ruled out the possibility of any rugby next season after not renewing his contract with French club Toulon, and the 35-year-old has now also ruled out a future in coaching to prolong his life in the game. 

"Not at all," Botha said when asked by media if he saw himself as a coach one day. 

"I truly believe not. There were one or two options that were on the table ... rugby is not my whole life, it's only part of my life.

"When you get involved in coaching, what happens? It's weekends away from home and for me now it's unfair against my kids and my wife. I think I owe my wife and my kids the time now, rugby has been ruling my entire life since I was 21 or 22.

"Now I can actually say that I've got weekends open. I can go to the farm with my little boy and we can spend the time together."

Botha said that he was extremely grateful for what rugby had given him and he would always look for ways to give back to the game. Even coaching at lower levels would be a consideration. 

"The furthest I will go with coaching is maybe a high school team, just maybe help them with a little bit of scrumming and a little bit of lineouts, but definitely not professional coaching," he said.

"It's not actually me to be in that system."

Botha did say that he saw a future in coaching for former Bulls and Bok team-mates Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez. 

"Fourie du Preez has got a big, big rugby brain and that's why he plays a big role in this squad," said Botha. 

"Victor is a phenomenal player and he's got definitely a coaching brain as well.

"People say that Victor must still go through the process of coaching but I think the system is there ... I think they must just manage it and how the guys like Victor and Fourie come through the system.

"But I believe that they are there to one day become coaches."

Saturday's match kicks off at 17:00.