Bakkies Botha is world renowned for his brutal behaviour on the rugby field and this story from legendary Springboks captain John Smit enriches the lock's hard man legacy.
Matt Stevens was chosen to play for England, despite being born in Durban. Smit explains in the hugely popular TikTok video that Botha couldn't understand how someone from South Africa could do that.
So as Stevens lined up against his birth country, Botha made him enemy of the state.
"In the first scrum he's loaded on the left hand side, which is where he doesn't normally scrum. He normally scrums on the tight-head. I realised what was coming so I sort of shifted to the right." explains Smit in the video.
"He (Botha) came through and hit him so plum right here, that he split him open like the most perfect happy face emoji."
Stevens needed 14 stitches after the incident which took eight minutes to administer. The very next scrum when he was back on the field, Bakkies was at it again, popping eight of the 14 stitches.
"At half-time I said - 'Bakkies I think that's enough', continued Smit.
"He looked up with his ears and face pushed in like this (squishes face) - 'Just one more please captain!'"
You can watch Smit tell the hilarious story below.
The video has proved to be a hit on TikTok over the weekend, picking up over half a million views in three days. Viewers were not surprised by this behaviour from Botha.
"Bakkies the cheap shot king." commented one. "Dirty, cheap shots. Standard," said another.
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