MOVING ABROAD HADN’T crossed BJ Botha’s mind before the offer from Ulster arrived in 2008.
Life was good in South Africa. Botha was a key man for the Sharks, which had been his dream growing up in Durban. The tighthead prop was a regular with the Springboks too, earning a World Cup medal with them in 2007.
The British and Irish Lions were coming to South Africa in 2009 and Botha was happy where he was. His agent spoke to him about striking when the iron was hot and going overseas but initially, Botha didn’t want to know anything about it.
Ulster’s three-year offer turned his head.
He and his wife, Taryn, faced a huge decision. Stay where they were so happy or take on a new adventure in Ireland. Having thought long and hard, they decided to take up Ulster’s offer.
“I promised my mother-in-law we’d be back in three years but the rest is history,” says Botha.
16 years later, they’re still living in Ireland, albeit with a stint in France and a spell back in South Africa during Covid thrown in there. Limerick is home now.
Botha is the head coach of All-Ireland League side UL Bohemians and also the head coach of Glenstal Abbey’s senior cup team.
All five of Botha’s children were born in Ireland. Ava is 15, Owen is 13, Sydney is 10, Lexi is seven, and Boden is four.
“They have the option of telling people they’re Irish or South African,” says Botha with a laugh. “They all have an Irish twang when they talk.”
Botha became an Irish citizen in 2016 after spending five years playing for Munster, with Taryn gaining citizenship soon after. The kids all have Irish passports too.
“As someone with a South African passport only, this is one of your goals,” says Botha. “Not for yourself, for your children. It allows such flexibility for travelling, studying, working.
“It opens up the world to them because in South Africa, we have such a restrictive passport which some people aren’t aware of.
“I missed a Barbarians game because of my passport. I had played for them in 2009 but in 2011, I was waiting for my visa to come through. I went to the consulate, I did everything I could, but it didn’t happen. That’s how mad it is.”
Given all that has happened over the last 16 years, it’s fair to say the decision to join Ulster back in 2008 worked out well for Botha.
Though he has no regrets, Botha has occasionally wondered what life might have been like if he had stayed at home. The Springboks decided not to select overseas-based players for that 2009 Lions series and it was tough to miss out on those titanic games.
Botha did return to the Boks fold later that season but the last of his 25 Test caps came in the summer of 2010 against the All Blacks. In the meantime, the Bothas had settled into life with Ulster well.
“We were so welcomed in Ulster, I really enjoyed my time there,” says BJ.
“I was so raw, it was a joke. I actually asked why I was getting paid in pounds and not euros. I didn’t know at all but I learned all about Ireland and the history.”
The first season on the pitch was disappointing, with Brian McLaughlin then coming in to replace Matt Williams as head coach, and Ulster improved over the following two years, reaching the Celtic League semi-finals and Heineken Cup quarter-finals in Botha’s last campaign.
Again, there was a big decision for Botha during that 2010/11 season.
Munster made a play for the South African tighthead and what would have been a big decision in any circumstances was made more difficult by Botha’s son, Owen, taking seriously ill.
“I had dislocated my elbow against Biarritz in January,” says Botha. “I had surgery and my son was born around the same time. Unfortunately, two weeks into his life, he was misdiagnosed and got a urinary tract infection that turned into sepsis.
“I’m there with my fricking arm, my wife is having to wash me at morning and night because I can’t do it. But the main thing was that we were so worried about whether our son was going to survive. It was that serious.
“His organs were shutting down and we had this traumatic event. It’s also January into February time when you need to confirm something on paper with someone for rugby.”
Looking back, Botha can’t recall how clear his thinking was. There was so much to like in Ulster, with a close group of friends around them, including several other South African players.
“We had everything on our plate. But we decided to ship up and leave for Munster. I look back at that decision not with any regret because there was such an opportunity on the other side. Not many guys come from Ulster to the south, more now but back then it was big news and I felt that.
“We had to make a decision and I was going to a massive European club to play with some great players.”
Again, the decision worked out well. Botha played for Munster for five seasons, becoming a centurion and creating fond memories along the way.
He looks back with frustration too, given that Munster weren’t able to win a trophy even with a squad that still included huge names like Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara, Donncha O’Callaghan, and Doug Howlett.
Munster had won Heineken Cups in 2006 and 2008. That was the level they aspired to.
“Those winning days were hanging over the place, like we needed to get there again,” says Botha.
“Munster had just won the league when I came in but you had the feeling that we measured ourselves on how we did in Europe.”
He sensed they were going to do it in his first season there as they opened their pool campaign in unforgettable fashion when O’Gara kicked last-gasp winning drop goals against Northampton and Castres on back-to-back weekends.
They put 50 points on Northampton away from home too but were then rocked by Ulster at Thomond Park in the quarter-finals.
“I remember the 41-phase drop goal against Northampton and then we go away to Castres the following week…. I’ll never forget it.
“I was looking the opposite way, Denis Leamy was looking towards the poles. All I see is the ball going to ROG, he kicks, and Denis Leamy’s eyes go wide and he goes, ‘He’s done it again, the fucker!’
“You’re sitting in that changing room and you thought it was going to be the season. We demolished Northampton away. We did everything we could in the pool stages but then we lost to my old side in the quarter-final at home.”
There was a narrow defeat against Clermont in their 2013 Heineken Cup semi-final in Montpellier, as well as another hard-fought battle and defeat against Toulon in the semis the year after in Marseille. The 2015 defeat to Glasgow in the Pro 14 final was a seriously disappointing day.
Botha’s last game for Munster was a miserable defeat to Stade Français in January 2016 when he ruptured his ACL. With his contract expiring that summer, he thought his playing days were over.
But as he neared the end of his rehab, French club Lyon reached out with a medical joker offer and by October, Botha was playing in the Top 14. He did a season in the Pro D2 with Biarritz for 2017/18 but called it quits after that and moved back to Ireland.
He was keen to test himself in coaching and joined UL Bohs as forwards coach before the pandemic turned the world upside down. Unsure of how long it would last, the Bothas moved back to South Africa to be close to their family in the Western Cape.
Botha took up a coaching role at Paarl Boys’ High School, famed for producing rugby players, as well as launching a consultancy business called ‘Tight 5′ that he hopes can grow again in the future.
“Similar to Ireland, teachers in schools coach a lot in South Africa,” says Botha.
“Who upskills these coaches in the niche areas like the front row? Specific skills like scrummaging are a long game. There’s not a quick solution, so trying to quickly upload all the skills when a guy gets into the National Talent Squad or whatever, it’s hard.
“Guys need to be playing at prop or hooker as much as possible, playing games and getting reps. It’s not quite the 10,000-hour rule but it’s like a golf swing. It’s rep after rep after rep to get the neural pathways developed. Scrummaging is more of a feeling and to get the feeling, you need the reps, you need the time.”
His kids enjoyed the two years in South Africa around their relatives but when the roles as head coach in UL Bohs and Glenstal came up, Ireland was calling again.
Botha’s first season in charge of Limerick club Bohs was tough as they went from being in contention for promotion from Division 2A of the AIL at one stage to getting relegated at the end of the campaign.
He says they’ve recruited well and plan to bounce back in 2024/25, with Botha benefitting from a full year in charge.
“The head coach role is difficult to prepare for because you only learn the skills of a head coach once you’re actually in the role. It’s a lot of delegating, managing of players, managing of emotions, not so much actually coaching. You have to let go a bit and give responsibility to your assistant coaches.”
And he loves the work in Glenstal, whose relatively small pool of players means they have to be smart. Botha is excited about the young players coming up from transition year next season, although he says his job is to help develop people as well as rugby players.
Botha will watch on with interest in the coming weeks as his beloved Springboks clash with the country he and his family have made home.
He has concerns for Ireland at the set-piece but expects a thrilling series.
“It’s going to be tough for Ireland, scrum is such a big part of the South African DNA,” says Botha. “In the pack, the Leinster-Bulls game [in the URC semi-finals] could be what we see in the scrum.
“Those were really mostly the starting guys for Ireland, it was almost like a pre-run. Ireland will be up for it and hopefully they prove me wrong.
“South Africa have a lot of emotion behind them. That pool game that Ireland won at the World Cup hurt them, even though they came away with the trophy. It hurt them deeply.
“I don’t think the Boks are going to run over them, Ireland will find something, but they have to sort the set-piece.
“The Boks are coming.”
- This article was updated at 10.27pm to correct an error stating that Munster won the Heineken Cup in 2008 and 2010, rather than 2006 and 2008.
