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
Hats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
1 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
2 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
23 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
2 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
23 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to comments