Bakkies Botha

John Philip Botha

Bakkies Botha, dressed in the Springbok change kit after a pre-match warm up.
Full name	John Philip Botha
Date of birth	22 September 1979 (1979-09-22)
Place of birth	Newcastle, South Africa
Height	2.02 m (6 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight	118 kg (260 lb; 18 st 8 lb)
School	Middelburg THS and Vereeniging THS, South Africa
Occupation(s)	Professional rugby union footballer
Professional clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2011-	Toulon
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Lock
Provincial/State sides
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1999–2011	Blue Bulls	50	50
Super Rugby
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2002–2011	Bulls	86	45
correct as of 2007-04-27.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
2002–	South Africa	76	(35)
correct as of 5 December 2011.

John Philip "Bakkies" Botha, (born 22 September 1979 in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal Province) is a South African rugby union player who plays lock for the Springboks. He was a member of the national team that won the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France in addition to winning two Tri Nations titles in the 2004 Tri Nations Series and the 2009 Tri Nations Series. Botha plays for RC Toulonnais in the Top 14 after signing from Blue Bulls provincial team in the Currie Cup competition and the Bulls Super 15 team.

Career

Botha played for the under-19 and under-23 Springbok sides before being chosen for the South African "A" team that toured Europe at the end of 2001. The following year he was selected for the Springbok team and made his debut against France in Marseille on 9 September 2002, a game the Springboks went on to lose 30–10.

Through the years Botha and Blue Bulls teammate Victor Matfield formed a formidable partnership at lock for both their province and country. Botha is known as one of the "hardest" locks in world rugby, and is nicknamed "The Enforcer" for his physical play.

His confrontational style has resulted in a number of controversial incidents. He received a yellow card for stamping on his debut against France. Then in August 2003 he was accused of biting and then eye-gouging Wallabies hooker Brendan Cannon, and although there was insufficient video evidence to consider the biting charge, and he was found not guilty of gouging, he was still suspended for eight weeks for "attacking the face". Cannon has given interviews stating that Botha both bit and gouged him [1] [2], and Botha himself gave an interview to The Times saying that his ban was "for an eye-gouge" [3].

In April 2009 he received a 3 match ban for striking Phil Waugh in a 2009 Super 14 season match, and in June 2009 whilst playing for South Africa in the second test against the British and Irish Lions, Botha was banned for two weeks for a dangerous charge on the Lions prop Adam Jones in a ruck which left the Welsh player with a dislocated shoulder requiring surgery. Botha's appeal against the ban was dismissed, and he missed the third test against the Lions. The injured Jones himself later came out in defence of Botha, saying:

"Botha shouldn't have been banned for it, nowhere near it. I don't have any complaints. He just cleared me out of the ruck and I got caught. Everyone counter-rucks nowadays and, if anything, I was in the wrong place. He just hit me and I was unlucky. So I was surprised to see he got banned. I know we didn't cite him so I don't know why the independent commissioner did. It was just a fair ruck from a hard player. When I have met him before he seems like a tidy enough bloke so I'm not seeing it as anything malicious."

In a controversial move, the whole South African team wore armbands with 'Justice 4' (a reference to Botha's shirt number) written on them in the third and final test against the Lions, in support of Botha and in protest over perceived inconsistencies in the citing process, for which the South African Rugby Union was charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the IRB. On 10 July 2010, in the 1st test of the 2010 Tri Nations Series against New Zealand, Botha was suspended from all rugby for 9 weeks by an IRB judiciary for head-butting All Black halfback Jimmy Cowan, ruling him out of the remainder of the 2010 Tri Nations Series.

Botha has played in three Currie Cup finals with the Bulls ('02, '04 & '09 having been on 2003 Rugby World Cup duty in '03 when the Bulls won and withdrew from Currie Cup action in '06 by the then Springbok coach Jake White when the Bulls shared the cup), and was also a member of the victorious Bulls team in the Super 14 in the 2007 Super 14 season, 2009 Super 14 season and 2010 Super 14 season.

External links

• Bulls profile
• Bakkies Botha at SARugby.co.za
• Springbok Rugby Hall of Fame profile