1
Jake White's Bulls to lose Arno Botha to France - report
By Kim Ekin
The Vodacom Bulls are reportedly set to lose Arno Both to Lyon, just a year after he returned to Pretoria.
Botha, an explosive ball carrier who plays flanker and number eight, played his entire professional career with the Blue Bulls before moving to London Irish in 2018.
From there he moved to Irish province Munster for two seasons, before returning to Jake White's Bulls in the second half of 2020.
A former South Africa U20s captain, he featured for the Springboks on two occasions in 2013.
Now - according to Rapport in South Africa - Botha, who has captained the Bulls, is set to return to Europe to take up a lucrative offer with Lyon.
It's a bit of a blow for White, who most recent tenure at the Bulls has been typified by his brilliance in the recruitment department.
Botha rose to prominence for South Africa U20s during the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship, scoring six tries on his way to being named South Africa Under-20 Player of the Year.
His rise in stock earned him a call-up to the Springbok senior set-up two years later, when he made his debut against Italy in Durban. Highly thought of by the Blue Bulls, Botha signed a contract extension with the Pretoria-based club the same year.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Israel Folau to make rugby return despite mid-week Lions disappointmen
3
Gregor Townsend: It’s the first time since 2000 that we’ve been to NZ
4
England hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie's club future appears done
5
Latest Comments
I wouldn’t think those names have anything to do with it. It is obviously hard just by fact of the numbers that succeed at it.
I’d say Petia is a completely different athlete, and it matters not at all how they perform playing rugby. What positions did they try out for? I don’t think he’s played rugby for well over a year now, can’t remember him in SR last year, but his form fell off a cliff compared to how he played as a youngster, so you haven’t missed out. Obviously still got by on pure ability. It’s very easy to look at the NFL with stary eyes but I’m not really sure how much ‘special’ is needed at all for most positions/players. JP though was very special when he started out, much like how Joseph was last November.
Go to commentsHe’s certainly used pertinent factors to qauntify what people were subjectively feeling.
I find data and science the opposite of tedious myself. You’re correlating the wrong thing Graham, it wouldn’t make SA the most exciting team, it would make The Rugby Championship the most exciting comp.
Go to comments