Johnny Kôtze

John-Ben Kôtze (born 24 January 1993) is a South African professional rugby union player for the in Super Rugby and the in the Currie Cup. He primarily plays at centre, though he is equally capable of performing on the wing.

Career

School

Kôtze attended Bishops College in Cape Town and played for their first XV in 2010 and 2011, where he played alongside Dillyn Leyds in 2010 and Tim Swiel in both 2010 and 2011.

2012–13

Kôtze's first provincial involvement came in 2012, when he was included in the squad that participated in the 2012 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He also made a single appearance for the s in the same season. He made ten appearances for in the 2013 Under-21 Provincial Championship, scoring a brace of tries in his first start at this level in their final match of the regular season against the . They topped the log to qualify for the semi-finals and Kôtze started both the semi-final win against the and the final against the , where he helped his side to a 30–23 victory over the .

2014–2015

The following year, he was a member of the side that played in the 2014 Varsity Cup. He played in the first four of Maties' matches in this competition, scoring two tries. He then moved to the squad that participated in the 2014 Vodacom Cup, where he made his first class debut by starting their 16–8 victory in the opening round of the competition. Kôtze also scored his first career try in Round Five of the competition, a 65–29 victory over Kenyan invitational side , eventually making a total of 6 starts.

Kôtze was a key figure for the side that participated in the 2014 Under-21 Provincial Championship, starting eleven of their fourteen matches during the competition, including their semi-final victory over – during which he scored one of seven tries during the season to help Western Province to a 41–17 victory – and the final, where they lost 10–20 to the s.

In 2015, Kôtze was named in the wider training group of Super Rugby side the . He was included in their final squad for the season and was included in the starting line-up for their season-opening match against the . He played the entire 80 minutes of the match as the Stormers started their season in fine form by running out 29–17 winners in the match in Pretoria.