1
Twenty-one-year-old grandson of England cricket great signs first senior contract for Cardiff Blues
By Online Editors
James Botham - grandson of England cricket great Sir Ian Botham - has signed a first senior contract with Cardiff Blues.
The 21-year-old made his Guinness PRO14 debut for the Blues earlier this season, and he is a former Wales Under-20 international.
The Blues announced deals for back-row forward Botham, whose father Liam was a Cardiff player between 1997 and 2000, prop Keiron Assiratti and flanker Shane Lewis-Hughes.
"It's great to sign my first professional deal, and I am really happy it's at Cardiff Blues, where I've spent the last three years in the academy," Botham said.
"You only have to look at the likes of Owen Lane, Jarrod Evans and Dillon Lewis to see how quickly young players can progress at Cardiff Blues, so this is definitely the right environment for me to improve as a player."
Botham was born in Cardiff and he has also represented Wales in sevens and at under-18 level.
His father Liam Botham also played professional rugby for Newcastle Falcons and Leeds Tykes after ditching cricket in 1997, as well as for England 21s.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Six players Rassie Erasmus must hand Springbok debuts to in 2025
3
Ex-England flyhalf says All Blacks scared
4
Gloucester respond to complaints over Russian flag
5
Latest Comments
we need a damaging 12 that takes 2 men to tackle that will take pressure off the 10 while also creating space for the 10 and 13 . Leicester is the only guy that fits the mould . The next thing is " will he be able to develop a good offload " ? .
for 13 Joey manu has more x factor then reiko and jordie put togeather . he's got one season in japan before he looks to come home . he's a dark horse but his skill set is something the All Blacks don't have . if he comes home and lights up the npc in a game or 2 , id love to see him fast tracked and come off the bench for the All Blacks and thrown into the deep end to see if he can swim . Just to see if he's worth the time and effort to develop further . We all saw how good sualii did for the wallabies and joey manu is just as good as sualii . He's safe under the high ball , a solid defender , has a master offload , and he's fast and strong .
he fits the mould for razor's offload tactics .
Plus reiko and jordie have had the 12 & 13 for how long and I haven't seen anything special from either of them .
Go to commentsRussia has taken their freedom. Dying for nato won't change that.
Go to comments