Arnoldus Francois Botha (born 26 October 1991) is a South African

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

footballer for the and . He can operate either as a flanker or number 8.

School and early career

Botha began primary school at Laerskool Messina before moving to Nylstroom. He was captain of the rugby first team of Hoërskool Nylstroom for 2 years and he represented Limpopo at the Craven Week competitions in 2008 and 2009. He represented the Bulls in Super Rugby and the

Blue Bulls The Blue Bulls (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vodacom Blue Bulls) is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfe ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

and

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

. In 2013, he signed a contract extension to keep him at the until 2016.

Representative rugby

Youth

He was captain of the South Africa Under 20 team that competed in the

2011 IRB Junior World Championship The 2011 IRB Junior World Championship was the fourth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams, this competition replaced the now defunct under 19 and under 21 world championships. The event was organised by rugby' ...

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and was also named South Africa Under 20 player of the year. Botha made his debut for the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

against on 8 June 2013 at

Kings Park Stadium The Kings Park Stadium (known as the Hollywoodbets Kings Park for sponsorship reasons since 2022), is a stadium located in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct in Durban, South Africa. The stadium was originally built with a capacity of 12,000 an ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

as the No. 7 flank. In his second test against on 15 June 2013 in Nelspruit, Botha left the field after four minutes of play, having ruptured ligaments in his left knee.

South Africa 'A'

In 2016, Botha was included in a South Africa 'A' squad that played a two-match series against a touring

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...

team. He didn't play in their first match in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

, but started the second match of the series, a 26–29 defeat in

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Europe

London Irish

In January 2018, he joined

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

Munster

Botha joined Irish

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...

side Munster on a one-year contract for the 2018–19 season. He made his competitive debut on 1 September 2018, starting at number 8 in their opening

2018–19 Pro14 The 2018–19 Pro14 (also known as the '' Guinness Pro14'' for sponsorship reasons) is the eighteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the second season to be referred to as the ''Pr ...

fixture against South African side

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

, a game which Munster won 38–0. Botha scored his first try for Munster in the provinces 49–13 win against Ospreys on 14 September 2018. Botha made his Champions Cup debut for Munster on 20 October 2018, coming off the bench in the provinces 36–22 win against English side

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

pool 2 Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky poo ...

. He signed a one-year contract extension with Munster in December 2018. Botha was shown a

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

for foul play in the 81st minute of Munster's 10–3 win against English side Saracens on 7 December 2019, and was subsequently banned for three weeks. He scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of tries in Munster's 68–3 win against South African side

Southern Kings The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They we ...

in round 11 of the

2019–20 Pro14 The 2019–20 PRO14 (also known as the '' Guinness PRO14'' for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League. It was the third season to be referred to as the ''PR ...

on 14 February 2020.

Return to South Africa

Botha returned to South Africa to join in July 2020, and was part of the team that won back-to-back

's in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Honours

* Super Rugby Unlocked winner

* Currie Cup winner

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* United Rugby Championship runner-up 2021-22

References

External links

*
Munster ProfilePro14 Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Arno 1991 births Living people People from Modimolle Local Municipality Afrikaner people Rugby union players from Limpopo South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players London Irish players Munster Rugby players Rugby union flankers Lyon OU players