Former All Blacks and Wallabies stars Ali Williams and Jeremy Paul have reminisced about Bakkies Botha after the indelible mark he left on them.
The Springboks legend was an enforcer renowned for his physicality, who sometimes crossed the line.
Botha was not averse to a judicial hearing and Paul and Williams revealed what it was like to both face him and be on the same team.
“He was dirty as f***, Bakkies Botha,” was the ex-Wallaby hooker’s first thought when his name cropped up on the GBRANZ podcast.
Williams agreed, saying: “Bakkies was so dirty, hey,” before Paul revealed one of his on-field encounters with the ex-South Africa lock.
‘Kicked me in the head and ran off’
“Do you remember playing against him in Test match rugby? I remember he kicked me in the back of the head in one game. He then jumped on top of me and whispered in my ear, ‘1-0, Paul’,” he said.
“Then he would run off! When the f*** did we start having a competition about bashing each other? When did that start? It was like a personal contest about how dirty he could be.”
Williams played against Botha when featuring for the Blues and All Blacks but also had him as a team-mate towards the end of their careers.
The second-row duo often featured together in a Toulon outfit full of global superstars, but it’s fair to say that the Springbok was not able to go the full 80 during the latter stages of his stint in France.
“In his final year, him and I would start and then he would look at me in the game after about 43 minutes. He would always do the first half and then between 43 to 50 minutes, he would look at me,” Williams said.
“It would be a scrum, he would slowly walk up to me, shake my hand and then walk off. I was like, ‘mate, you haven’t been subbed!’ He would go, ‘na, Bakkies done’.
“When he got angry, he talked in the third person. He would go, ‘na, Bakkies gone, Bakkies gone’.”
Bakkies Botha: ‘People still ask me how it feels to headbutt an All Black’
Disciplinary record
Despite an incredible playing career, it did not come without controversy and Botha was certainly used to being before a disciplinary panel.
In 2009 and 2010, he was suspended four times with the last a nine-week ban for headbutting All Blacks scrum-half Jimmy Cowan.
“There was one time when we were at a judicial hearing together and we passed each other. I was like, ‘mate, we can’t be doing this stuff.’ He goes, ‘Bakkies didn’t do it.’ Mate, you’re here on a judicial hearing,” Williams laughed.
“If I knew I could convince myself that I didn’t do s***, it would be amazing.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/bakkies-botha-talked-in-the-third-person-wallabies-and-all-blacks-greats-tell-stories-of-dirty-springboks-legend
