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

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 who played as a

lock Lock(s) or Locked 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 entertainme ...

. He was a member of the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

team 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 ...

in France in addition to winning two Tri Nations titles in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Botha played for

RC Toulonnais Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon and competing in the Top 14. Located on the French Riviera, in the Provence region, the club plays its h ...

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

, 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 and the United Rugby Championship. They are governed by their second team t ...

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 the

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine * Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding *Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. Botha was a member of the Toulon squad which won the 2013, 2014 and 2015

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 ...

European Rugby Champions 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 pr ...

Finals. He became widely associated with fellow international lock Victor Matfield for their highly successful onfield partnership with the Springboks.

Career

Botha played for the South Africa under-19 and under-23 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 full national team, the Springboks and made his debut against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

on 9 September 2002, a game South Africa lost 30–10. Botha and his Blue Bulls teammate

Victor Matfield Victor Matfield (born 11 May 1977) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played for and South African rugby union captains, captained the South Africa national rugby union team, South Africa national team (Springboks) as ...

formed a formidable partnership at

for both their province and country. Botha is known as one of the toughest and dirtiest locks in world rugby. His confrontational style 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 A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

hooker Brendan Cannon, 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 Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

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 the chief executive of Rugby Australia and a former 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 op ...

in a Super 14 match, In June 2009 whilst playing for South Africa 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 national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

, Botha was banned for two weeks for a dangerous charge on the Lions prop Adam Jones in a ruck which left Jones with a dislocated shoulder requiring surgery. Botha's appeal against the ban was dismissed, and he missed the third test against the Lions. The injured Jones himself later said Botha should not have been banned, as it was not malicious. The whole South African team wore armbands with 'Justice 4' (a reference to Botha's shirt number) written on them in the third 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

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

. In May 2010, Botha was suspended for four weeks following a dangerous clearout of wing Gio Aplon during the Bulls' Super 14 game against the Stormers. This was Botha's first match as captain of the Bulls; the suspension meant Botha missed the playoffs. On 10 July 2010, in the first test of the

2010 Tri Nations Series The 2010 Tri Nations Series was the 15th annual Tri Nations (rugby union), Tri Nations series between the national rugby union teams of New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand, Australia national rugby union team, Australia and South A ...

against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, Botha was suspended from all rugby for 9 weeks 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 (2002, 2004 and 2009), and was also a member of the victorious Bulls teams in the Super 14 in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. He also won the

with

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He is now one of the most decorated players in world rugby. Botha was nicknamed 'the enforcer' and 'the butcher'. He is considered one of the dirtiest rugby players of the professional era. Journalist Mark Keohane has argued that his disciplinary record in international matches was not among the very worst. 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 ...

said he was the greatest player he ever coached.

Honours

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 *

Toulon * Heineken Cup European Champions/

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* 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 name is ...

* Tri-Nations:

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 South African expatriate rugby union players in France RC Toulon players Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal South Africa international rugby union players South African rugby union players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century South African sportsmen