Bakkies Botha was one half of an iconic lock combination that steered the Springboks to countless successes against the best. Where's he now?
Bakkies Botha was one half of an iconic lock combination that steered the Springboks to countless successes against the world’s best. Where is he now?Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield, aka the Blood Brothers, were the most perfectly imposing and dominant lock duo you could concoct in a laboratory. Bakkies Botha, or John Philip Botha to his mother when she was angry with him, won the 2007 World Cup and Tri Nations titles in 2004 and 2009 with his country.
HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND – SEPTEMBER 12, Percy Montgomery, John Smit, Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield celebrate after the Tri-Nations rugby match between New Zealand and South Africa on September 12, 2009 at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand. Photo by Tertius Pickard / Gallo ImagesBakkies Botha was an integral component of a Golden Era for the Springboks and that was also the case for him at the Blue Bulls, where he won three Super Rugby titles in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
To say Botha’s game was physical is a huge understatement. In 2009 in a test for the DSpringboks against the British & Irish Lions, Bakkies was banned for two weeks after a dangerous charge on Lions prop Adam Jones, dislocating his shoulder which needed surgery. The Lions forward came out in Botha’s defence:
“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.
Bakkies played hard, but he also played fair. By the way, The Springboks went on to win that series. Another medal for Botha to add to his collection.
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