Naas Botha

Hendrik Egnatius 'Naas' Botha (born 27 February 1958) is a South African former rugby union player who played as a Fly-half for Northern Transvaal, Rugby Rovigo and South Africa (the Springboks).

He was voted SA Rugby Player of the Year in 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1987. Botha mostly played in the fly-half position and is now a rugby commentator for the South African M-Net and Supersport TV channels. He is also the Director of Rugby at Hoërskool Eldoraigne.

Family and early career

Botha was born in the town of Breyten in the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), South Africa and went to school at the Hoërskool Hendrik Verwoerd in Pretoria. As a child, Botha aspired to playing professional baseball and applied for a sport scholarship in the United States. Botha was also an excellent schools cricket and tennis player and also a hurdles athlete.

However, Botha was selected to play for the South African under-20 rugby team, where he caught the eye of the selectors while still a student at the University of Pretoria.

As a result, Botha played his first Test for the Springboks on 26 April 1980 at the age of 22 in the flyhalf position against South America at Wanderers, Johannesburg.

Rugby union

Botha was best known for extremely accurate (both left- and right-footed) kicking, which earned him the nickname "Nasty Booter" from the British press when the British Lions toured South Africa in 1980. He is best remembered for his abilities as a very successful drop-kicker in high pressure situations and is also considered to have had an outstanding tactical understanding of rugby.

While Botha was sometimes criticised for avoiding physical contact and not running with the ball, his handling of the ball was very deft and he could get his backline moving very quickly with accurate short- and long-range passing. As a result, he scored many tries and contributed to many more. However, some consider that he was somewhat weak in defence. Nevertheless, Danie Craven once said, "Give me Naas, and I'll conquer the world!"

Botha remained the highest points scorer in Springbok rugby history for a number of years, with a points total of 312. His tally was passed by Percy Montgomery on 17 July 2004. However, Montgomery passed him in his 50th match, while Botha had only played in 28.

In addition to his Springbok rugby-playing duties, Botha also played for the Northern Transvaal province (nicknamed the "Blou Bulle", which means "Blue Bulls", now their official name) from 1977 to 1995. During this period they won the Currie Cup nine times (sharing it twice with Western Province in 1979 and 1989). He was also captain of the province a record 128 times and scored a record 2,511 points (including 1,699 points in the Currie Cup).

The 1981 tour and sporting bans

In 1980, Botha traveled with the Springboks to South America.

The 'boks beat France at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria; in 1981 they subsequently beat Ireland in their warm-up to their tour of New Zealand. Public opinion was deeply divided over the New Zealand tour. Botha and his fellow Springboks' focus on playing rugby was made difficult by actions such as pitch invasions and aircraft fly-bys from protesters opposed to South Africa's apartheid policies. South Africa lost the series 2-1, although the implications of the tour went far beyond rugby.

As an indirect result of this tour, South Africa was banned by the International Rugby Board from international competition until 1992. This meant that, apart from hosting the rebel New Zealand Cavaliers tour in 1986, Botha played few international games, including two tests in 1989 against a World 15 made up by players from England, Wales and France. Domestically he continued to excel: in 15 seasons playing for Northern Transvaal he played in 11 Currie Cup finals, winning nine (two shared) and scoring a record 2,511 points.

International career

In the pre-professional era that Botha played in, being paid to play rugby was always a controversial subject. Despite being handsomely paid "under the table", Botha was of the opinion that he could earn more in professional sport, and was invited by the American football team the Dallas Cowboys in 1983 to travel to the United States to try out as a placekicker. While in the United States, Naas also played rugby with the Dallas Harlequins, where he helped them to the 1984 USA National Club Championships. The Dallas try-out was ultimately not successful, and he returned to South Africa to continue his rugby career.

In 1987, once again primarily for monetary considerations, Botha moved to the Italian club Rugby Rovigo, where he was coached by the former Springboks coach Nelie Smith and played alongside fellow South Africans Tito Lupini and Gert Smal. During the course of 6 seasons, Botha played 119 games for Rovigo and helped the team win two National Championships (in 1988 and 1990), ending a 9-years drought, also reaching the final twice (1989 and 1992), in addition to a semifinal (1991) and a quarter final (1993).

Return to the Springboks

Botha's career lasted long enough for him to see South Africa let back into the international rugby fold and to play in one-off Tests against World Cup holders Australia and New Zealand. Both games ended in defeat. Botha then toured France with the Springboks, before bowing out, age 34, as flyhalf against England at Twickenham, London, in a 33–16 defeat on 14 November 1992.

Botha had set countless Springbok records during his rugby career and is still considered to be one of the Springbok "greats".

Coaching and management career In 2019, Botha was appointed coach of both the India men's national rugby union team and the India women's national rugby union team.

In 2026, Botha was appointed director of rugby at Kansas City Blues.

Personal life

Botha is now married to Karen, a former Springbok athlete and long jump record-holder; the couple have three daughters, Kyla (1991) Gaeby (1998) and Lee-gre (2003).

Career stats

Summary

Team – Test matches28 19 0 9 2 50 50 18 312 – Tour matches 12 10 0 2 4 41 16 9 173

Test match record

No. Opposition Result (SA 1st) Position Points Date Venue1. 24px South American Jaguars 24–9 Fly-half 12 (3 con, 1 pen, 1 drop) 26 Apr 1980 Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg2. 24px South American Jaguars 18–9 Fly-half 14 (1 con, 1 pen, 3 drop) 3 May 1980 Kings Park, Durban3. 26–22 Fly-half 6 (3 con) 31 May 1980 Newlands, Cape Town4. British Lions 26–19 Fly-half 10 (2 con, 2 pen) 14 Jun 1980 Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein5. British Lions 12–10 Fly-half 8 (1 con, 1 pen, 1 drop) 28 Jun 1980 Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth6. British Lions 13–17 Fly-half 3 (1 pen) 12 Jul 1980 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria7. 24px South American Jaguars 22–13 Fly-half 10 (2 con, 1 pen, 1 drop) 18 Oct 1980 Wanderers Club, Montevideo8. 24px South American Jaguars 30–16 Fly-half 6 (3 con) 25 Oct 1980 Prince of Wales Country Club, Santiago9. 37–15 Fly-half 17 (4 con, 3 pen) 8 Nov 1980 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria 10. 23–15 Fly-half 11 (1 con, 3 pen) 30 May 1981 Newlands, Cape Town 11. 12–10 Fly-half 12 (1 pen, 3 drop) 6 Jun 1981 Kings Park, Durban 12. 9–14 Fly-half 5 (1 con, 1 drop) 15 Aug 1981 Lancaster Park, Christchurch13. 24–12 Fly-half 20 (1 con, 5 pen, 1 drop) 29 Aug 1981 Athletic Park, Wellington 14. 22–25 Fly-half 10 (2 con, 2 pen) 12 Sep 1981 Eden Park, Auckland 15. 38–7 Fly-half 6 (3 con) 20 Sep 1981 Owl Creek Polo ground, Glenville, New York 16. 24px South American Jaguars 50–18 Fly-half 15 (6 con, 1 drop) 27 Mar 1982 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria 17. 24px South American Jaguars 12–21 Fly-half 8 (1 con, 2 pen) 3 Apr 1982 Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein 18. New Zealand Cavaliers 21–15 Fly-half (c) 17 (1 con, 3 pen, 2 drop) 10 May 1986 Newlands, Cape Town 19. New Zealand Cavaliers 18–19 Fly-half (c) 14 (1 con, 4 pen) 17 May 1986 Kings Park, Durban 20. New Zealand Cavaliers 33–18 Fly-half (c) 21 (1 try, 4 con, 3 pen) 24 May 1986 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria 21. New Zealand Cavaliers 24–10 Fly-half (c) 17 (1 con, 5 pen) 31 May 1986 Ellis Park, Johannesburg 22. World XV 20–19 Fly-half 12 (1 try, 1 con, 2 pen) 26 Aug 1989 Newlands, Cape Town 23. World XV 22–16 Fly-half 14 (1 con, 3 pen, 1 drop) 2 Sep 1989 Ellis Park, Johannesburg 24. 24–27 Fly-half (c) 9 (3 con, 1 pen) 15 Aug 1992 Ellis Park, Johannesburg 25. 3–26 Fly-half (c) 3 (1 pen) 22 Aug 1992 Newlands, Cape Town 26. 20–15 Fly-half (c) 10 (2 con, 1 pen, 1 drop) 17 Oct 1992 Stade de Gerland, Lyon 27. 16–29 Fly-half (c) 11 (1 con, 2 pen, 1 drop) 24 Oct 1992 Parc des Princes, Paris 28. 16–33 Fly-half (c) 11 (1 con, 2 pen, 1 drop) 14 Nov 1992 Twickenham, London Legend: pen = penalty (3 pts.); con = conversion (2 pts.), drop = drop kick (3 pts.).