John Philip "Bakkies" Botha, (born 22 September 1979) is a South African former professional

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 ...

player who played as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

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 ...

until 2014. 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 The 2009 Tri Nations Series was the fourteenth annual Tri Nations rugby union series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, respectively nicknamed the All Blacks, Wallabies, and Springboks. The Sprin ...

. Botha plays for

RC Toulonnais Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also known as RCT but usually Toulon; oc, Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

after signing from

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 ...

provincial team 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 ...

competition and the Bulls Super Rugby team. Botha was also a member of the Toulon squad which won the 2013, 2014 and 2015 Heineken Cup/ European Rugby Champions Cup Finals. Botha became widely associated with fellow international lock Victor Matfield for their highly successful onfield partnership with the Springboks.

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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

on 9 September 2002, a game the Springboks went on to lose 30–10. Through the years Botha and Blue Bulls teammate

Victor Matfield Victor Matfield (born 11 May 1977) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played for and captained the South Africa national team (Springboks) as well as the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup and the Bulls franchise in Super ...

formed a formidable partnership at

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 in his debut against France. Then in August 2003 he was accused of biting and then eye-gouging Wallabies hooker

Brendan Cannon Brendan Cannon (born 5 April 1973) is a former Australian rugby union footballer who played for the national team, The Wallabies and three Australian teams in the Super 12 and Super 14 competitions. Cannon played for both the Queensland Reds ...

, 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, and Botha himself gave an interview to

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

saying that his ban was "for an eye-gouge". In April 2009 he received a three-match ban for striking

Phil Waugh Phillip Waugh (born 22 September 1979) is a retired Australian rugby union footballer who played 136 matches in Super Rugby for the NSW Waratahs, and in 79 Test matches for the Wallabies. His usual position was openside flanker. Rugby career W ...

in a

2009 Super 14 season The 2009 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2009 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 30 May, when the Bulls won their second Super Rugby title with a decisive 61–17 victory over the Chiefs at Loftus Versfeld stad ...

match, In June 2009 whilst playing for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in the second test against the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

, Botha was banned for two weeks for a dangerous charge on the Lions

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

Adam Jones in a

ruck Ruck may refer to: * Ruck (rugby union), a contesting for the ball in Rugby Union from a grounded player * Ruck (Australian rules football), an aerial contest in Australian rules football between rival ruckmen * Ruck (rugby league), the area sur ...

which left the Welsh player with a

dislocated shoulder A dislocated shoulder is a condition in which the head of the humerus is detached from the shoulder joint. Symptoms include shoulder pain and instability. Complications may include a Bankart lesion, Hill-Sachs lesion, rotator cuff tear, or inj ...

requiring surgery. Botha's appeal against the ban was dismissed, and he missed the

third test Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * H ...

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 The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

was charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the IRB. In May 2010, during the Bulls Super 14 game against the Stormers, Botha was suspended for four weeks following a dangerous clearout of wing Gio Aplon. This was Botha's first match as captain of the Bulls. The suspension meant Botha missed the playoffs. On 10 July 2010, in the 1st test of the

2010 Tri Nations Series The 2010 Tri Nations Series was the 15th annual Tri Nations series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. New Zealand clinched the series crown with one match remaining, scoring two tries in the last ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, 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

. Botha played in three winning

finals with the Bulls ('02, '04 & '09), and was also a member of the victorious Bulls team in the Super 14 in the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. Th ...

and

2010 Super 14 season The 2010 Super 14 season kicked off in February 2010 with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished on 29 May. The 2010 season was the fifth and last season of the expanded Super 14 format. The schedule, which covers 3½ months, feat ...

. He also won the Heineken Cup/ European Rugby Champions Cup with

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He is now one of the most decorated players in world rugby.

Appraisal

Botha's record of winning rugby sides is hard to match. Whilst known as a very hard player, his disciplinary record was actually not unusual. Botha is regularly listed in 'greatest ever' sides, and coach

Bernard Laporte Bernard Laporte (born 1 July 1964) is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Sa ...

said he was the greatest player he ever coached.

Honours

Nominee for SA player of the year in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Voted by the French publication Midi Olympique in 2013 as the best No. 4 lock to ever play the game. At the time, he was one of only two players in the best XV still playing, the other being Richie McCaw. The only player in the history of rugby union to date to have won a hat trick of Super Rugby and European rugby titles. Blue Bulls *

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 ...

: 2001 *

: 2002, 2004, 2006 (draw), 2009 Bulls * Super Rugby: 2007, 2009, 2010 Toulon * Heineken Cup European Champions/ European Rugby Champions Cup:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

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, 2015 * Top 14 French League :

South Africa *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

: 2007 * Tri-Nations: 2004, 2009 *

series win: 2009 * Mandela Challenge Plate: 2005, 2009 * Freedom Cup: 2004, 2009 * Prince William Cup: 2007, 2008, 2010

Activities in retirement

As of 2019 Botha runs a butchery business in South Africa called "Bakkies the Butcher".

References

External links

*
Bakkies Botha
at Springbok Rugby Hall of Fame * {{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Bakkies 1979 births Living people Afrikaner people Barbarian F.C. players Blue Bulls players Bulls (rugby union) players Expatriate rugby union players in France RC Toulonnais players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal South Africa international rugby union players South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in France South African rugby union players