Ian James Botting (18 May 1922 – 9 July 1980) was a New Zealand

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 its m ...

player who represented both his country of birth and England. A wing three-quarter, Botting played for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

, on their 1949 tour of South Africa. He played nine matches for the All Blacks on that tour, but did not appear in any internationals. Following the tour, Botting became a student at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and in 1950 he made two test appearances for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in that year's Five Nations Championship. He joined

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in 1951 and made his debut 1 December 1951 against Harlequins. He played in 38 matches for Leicester, scoring 15 tries, his final match was on Tuesday 7 April 1953 against

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

. An ordained Anglican minister, Botting was killed when he was knocked from his bicycle by a motor vehicle in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

in 1980.

References

1922 births 1980 deaths Rugby union players from Dunedin People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand international rugby union players Otago rugby union players University of Otago alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford England international rugby union players Rugby union wings Expatriate rugby union players in England New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand Anglican priests Road incident deaths in New Zealand New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England Leicester Tigers players Cycling road incident deaths 20th-century New Zealand Anglican priests {{NewZealand-rugbyunion-bio-1920s-stub