South African captain Victor Matfield has admitted that he was 'relieved' to claim third place in the Rugby World Cup at the expense of Argentina.
Read More
The Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer had described the third-place playoff as akin to kissing your sister but saw his side dominated proceedings and edge out the Pumas courtesy of a 24-13 scoreline.
Although Matfield conceded that he was bitterly disappointed not to have a chance to compete for the Webb Ellis trophy, he was glad that he brough the curtain down on his Test career with a win.
"Of course we would have loved to be playing tomorrow for the World Cup but unfortunately things didn't go our way last week.
"Today we knew it would be tough, we have a lot of respect for Argentina and a bronze medal is better than fourth place.
"I'm just so relieved we won the game. We'll go into the changing room and have a beer with Schalk Burger, Fourie du Preez and the guys I've spent so much of my life with.
"It's been a fantastic career and I'm just happy we won the game tonight."
Allow Exco Player content
This content is provided by Exco Player and may use cookies or similar technologies. Please click 'Allow and Continue' below to load the content.