James Ian Botham (born 22 February 1998) is a Welsh 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 plays as a flanker for

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

club

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and the Wales national team.

Early life

The grandson of all-round cricketer

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...

, James was born in Cardiff while his father

Liam Botham Liam James Botham (born 26 August 1977) is an English former professional sportsman who played both codes of rugby football and cricket. He is the son of former England cricketer Ian Botham. Career Cricket Botham was born in Doncaster and initi ...

was playing for

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after which relocating to Ca ...

as a wing. After his father moved to

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

for the 2000–01 season, James was educated at

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, day school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, North West England. It comprise ...

, a boarding school in

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Club career

Botham joined the Cardiff academy in 2016, and in the 2018–19 season started making appearances for the senior team, initially in the

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

, and then debuted in the

Pro14 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

against

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht B ...

. Botham signed his first professional contract with Cardiff in March 2019. Botham was selected as Man of the Match against the

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on 26 December 2020.

International career

Botham made his debut for Wales U18 on 25 March 2016 against Scotland under-18 at

St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground, commonly known simply as St Helens Ground, is a sports venue in Swansea, Wales, owned and operated by the City and County of Swansea Council. Used mainly for rugby union and cricket, it has been the home groun ...

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, scoring a try in the 31-30 victory. Botham made his first appearance for Wales U20 in the

2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2017 Six Nations Under 20s Championship, was the 10th series of the Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Wales were the defending champions. The competition was won by England, who complet ...

. In early 2017, Botham was selected by Wales Sevens for the

World Rugby Sevens Series The SVNS, known as the HSBC SVNS for sponsorship reasons, is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World ...

, making his first appearance during the New Zealand leg. On 16 November 2020, Botham was called up to the senior Wales rugby side for the Autumn Nations Cup tournament. Botham made his test debut against

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on 21 November 2020, starting on the blindside. He started the following two matches of the tournament, against England and Italy. Botham was selected in the squad for the

2021 Six Nations Championship The 2021 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, ...

, making three appearances off the bench as Wales won the championship and Triple Crown. Botham retained his place in the squad for the

2021 July rugby union tests The 2021 mid-year rugby union internationals (also known as the summer internationals in the Northern Hemisphere) were a series of international rugby union matches. Due to ongoing restrictions around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a numbe ...

, and score his first try for Wales in the win over Canada. Botham made two further appearances, starting both matches against Argentina. Ahead of the 2021–22 season, Botham underwent shoulder surgery, which ruled him out of the

2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those ...

. Botham was not selected for the

2022 Six Nations The 2022 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, ...

squad, having suffered a head injury just prior. In Wales final fixture of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series, Botham scored a late try in a 45-12 defeat to

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 ...

. Despite the result, this try would prevent Wales from sustaining their greatest margin of defeat in a home loss in an international fixture.

Career statistics

List of international tries

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Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

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References

External links

*
James Botham
at

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

Cardiff profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botham, James 1998 births Living people 21st-century Welsh sportsmen Rugby union players from Cardiff Cardiff Rugby players Welsh rugby union players Wales international rugby union players People educated at Sedbergh School Rugby union flankers