Brendon James Botha, better known as BJ Botha (born 4 January 1980) is a South African former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He played as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen 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, distinct ...

. He is now a housemaster and rugby coach at CBC Monkstown .

Professional career

Sharks

Botha played in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

and Super 14 the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

. He played in all 13 Super 14 matches in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and was one cap shy of a half-century in the domestic

Ulster

He signed for Ulster on Thursday 14 August 2008 on a three-year deal, and left the province in May 2011.

Munster

Botha signed for the Irish province Munster on a two-year contract in February 2011, starting in the 2011–12 season. He made his

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

debut against

Scarlets The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...

on 17 September 2011. His first

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

game for Munster was against

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

in November 2011. He scored his first try for Munster in January 2012, in the Heineken Cup round 6 game against Northampton. Botha scored a match-winning try for Munster in their final Pro12 game against Zebre on 3 May 2013. He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in May 2013. Botha signed a six-month contract extension with Munster in March 2015, meaning he will stay with the province until at least December 2015. He won his 100th cap for Munster in the 2015 Pro12 Grand Final on 30 May 2015. In November 2015, it was announced that Botha's contract with Munster had been extended to June 2016. Botha started Munster's opening pool game of the 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup against

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

on 14 November 2015, scoring a try in his team's 32–7 win. On 9 January 2016, Botha ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during Munster's match against

Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...

. The injury ruled him out for the foreseeable future. In May 2016, it was announced that Botha would leave Munster at the end of the 2015–16 season.

Move to France

After leaving Munster, Botha joined French

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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

club

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

as a medical joker ahead of the 2016–17 season, before joining

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

, who played in the Rugby Pro D2, France's second tier league, ahead of the 2017–18 season. Botha retired from rugby at the end of the 2017–18 season.

South Africa

Botha has played 25 times for the Springboks and has one try to his name. He was a member of the South Africa squad that won the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

Barbarians

In May 2009, Botha was named in the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

squad to play

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

References

External links

Munster Profile
*
Pro14 Profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Bj 1980 births Living people Rugby union players from Durban South African people of Afrikaner descent South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players South African people of British descent Ulster Rugby players Munster Rugby players Sharks (rugby union) players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Lyon OU Rugby players Biarritz Olympique players South African expatriate sportspeople in Northern Ireland South African expatriate rugby union players in Ireland Expatriate rugby union players in Northern Ireland South African expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century South African sportsmen Rugby union props 2007 Rugby World Cup players Alumni of Durban High School