Bakkies Botha has never forgotten his crude welcome to Top 14 rugby at the bottom of a ruck in Biarritz
Ex-Springboks enforcer Bakkies Botha has shed light on his remarkably bizarre introduction to the Top 14, the second row on the receiving end of an unforgettably crude incident when making his Toulon debut away at Biarritz. Botha thrived on his reputation as a hard man who thought he had seen and experienced it all, but what happened at Parc des Sports Aguilera showed that he hadn’t.
Taking up the story about the December 2011 game in the south-west of France, the World Cup winner told Midi Olympique: “It was winter, there was fighting and I was busy in an open scrum. I had a knee on the ground. I had just finished a counter-ruck or something like that… suddenly, I felt something come into my butt. I yelled: ‘What’s going on here?’
“I lost control. I left the two guys I was fighting with on the ground, I straightened up and behind me, the first guy I saw was my team-mate Sebastien Tillous-Borde. I thought to myself, ‘What’s going on in this country exactly?’”
Botha thought that his scrum-half had wanted to speed up the release of the ball and his only way of doing that was to get the second row out of the way at the ruck by putting a finger up the South African’s butt. “I thought he was crazy. I jostled him, opened my hand and put a pie on him. In his gaze, I saw that he didn’t understand what I was doing.
“On the bus, he came and asked me, ‘What happened, Bakkies? Why did you do that?’ I replied: ‘But you are crazy. You can’t put your damn finger in my butt and think nothing will happen.’ Sebastien exploded with laughter.
An X-rated Tri-Nations incident that lives in the memoryhttps://t.co/ZFGyNqeIpL
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 21, 2020
“When I got to Toulon, I asked Bernard (Laporte) to watch the video of the match. I dissected the action and there, on the ground, I saw this damn Marconnet (Sylvain Marconnet, the Biarritz prop) lying next to me and I saw him stick his finger in my butt.
“I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself: ‘This cursed Marconnet, he immediately found the target. My God, he must have done this kind of thing dozens of times’. I had just got to know French rugby!”
Touching someone in their private parts on a rugby pitch made headlines only recently in the Six Nations, England’s Joe Marler getting banned for ten weeks after touching the testicles of Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones. “I like Alun-Wyn Jones, he’s a good fighter,” said Botha.
“And I also like Marler. I’ve read some of these interviews, it’s very funny. He is a real character and his gesture did not really surprise me. But we can no longer tolerate this kind of thing on a rugby field. Society no longer allows it. In the eyes of some people, it’s not funny.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
60 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
60 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
60 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
60 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
60 Go to comments