Birth name | Brendon James Botha | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 4 January 1980 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Durban, South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 112 kg (17.6 st; 247 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Durban High School, Durban Kloof High School, Durban | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Brendon James Botha, better known as BJ Botha (born 4 January 1980) is a South African former rugby union player. He played as a prop. He is now a housemaster and rugby coach at Glenstal Abbey School. [1]
Botha played in the Currie Cup and Super 14 the Sharks. He played in all 13 Super 14 matches in 2006 and was one cap shy of a half-century in the domestic Currie Cup.
He signed for Ulster on Thursday 14 August 2008 on a three-year deal, and left the province in May 2011.
Botha signed for the Irish province Munster on a two-year contract in February 2011, starting in the 2011–12 season. [2]
He made his Munster debut against Scarlets on 17 September 2011. [3] His first Heineken Cup game for Munster was against Northampton Saints in November 2011. He scored his first try for Munster in January 2012, in the Heineken Cup round 6 game against Northampton. [4]
Botha scored a match-winning try for Munster in their final Pro12 game against Zebre on 3 May 2013. [5] He signed a two-year contract extension with Munster in May 2013. [6] Botha signed a six-month contract extension with Munster in March 2015, meaning he will stay with the province until at least December 2015. [7] He won his 100th cap for Munster in the 2015 Pro12 Grand Final on 30 May 2015. [8] In November 2015, it was announced that Botha's contract with Munster had been extended to June 2016. [9] Botha started Munster's opening pool game of the 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup against Treviso on 14 November 2015, scoring a try in his team's 32–7 win. [10] On 9 January 2016, Botha ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during Munster's match against Stade Français. The injury ruled him out for the foreseeable future. [11] In May 2016, it was announced that Botha would leave Munster at the end of the 2015–16 season. [12]
After leaving Munster, Botha joined French Top 14 club Lyon as a medical joker ahead of the 2016–17 season, [13] before joining Biarritz, who played in the Rugby Pro D2, France's second tier league, ahead of the 2017–18 season. [14] Botha retired from rugby at the end of the 2017–18 season. [15]
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.
In May 2009, Botha was named in the Barbarians squad to play England and Australia. [16] [17]
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