In part 1 of Grocott’s Mail’s exclusive interview with Springbok legend Naas Botha, he opened up about his family’s long history of battling cancer.
In part 1 of Grocott’s Mail’s exclusive interview with Springbok legend Naas Botha, he opened up about his family’s long history of battling cancer.
However, this was far from all he had to say on Wednesday. Speaking at Grahamstown’s The Belmont Golf Club, where he played a round as part of the Stride For Pride With Hospice fundraising initiative, Botha also shared his expert opinions on Super Rugby and the Springboks.
The former fly-half even found the time to reflect on his brief stint playing American football as a placekicker for the Dallas Cowboys in 1983. Here’s what he had to say:
On this year’s Super Rugby favourites:
“From a South African perspective, you look at Sharks; Stormers; and I think Lions – don’t exclude the Lions totally. I think the Bulls; and the Kings; and the Cheetahs are there and thereabout. They should do well, but I can’t really see them winning it. Then you look at Australian sides – you’ve got the Waratahs and the Brumbies… In New Zealand, there’s actually not one of the five teams that you can exclude at the moment.
If it’s just a wild guess, I would think the Brumbies.”
On the Sunwolves and the Jaguares:
“Unfortunately, the Sunwolves is not the best Japanese players available. (Sic) That’s a pity. Hopefully, in the next few years, they will be. The Argentine side [Jaguares] is quite a good side. Winning it – I thought before ‘they can’ – but I think, at the end, it will come from the Brumbies.”
On the Southern Kings
"You must feel for the players… The off-field fiasco or chaos or circus – whatever you want to call it had quite an influence on their preparations. With all the South Africans leaving, we don’t have that much talent left in the country… I think, at the moment, we might be lucky to field four proper franchises, not six… We don’t have enough talent to field six proper franchises."
On the next Springbok coach:
"To be honest, I’m not too interested [in who gets the job]. Whoever they appoint, I will support in any case… Open it to anybody, but if you feel that there’s not enough talent in house, then you go outside and you go find the best guy. Now who is the best guy? I think [Alan] Hansen is brilliant. I don’t think you could buy him. Wayne Smith – everybody talks highly of him. I thought that was a guy that we could approach."
On Eddie Jones:
"I think only the Japan – South Africa game made him famous. He was a coach of a Reds team that lost 13 games [it was, in fact, 11]in one season. I’m not saying he can never get better. Let’s be honest, he had a fantastic World Cup and was very successful and won [England’s first Six Nations title in five years] – but I never thought he was one of the better ones."
On which is the tougher sport out of Rugby and American football:
"[They are] totally different. I was only involved as a kicker. I was very fortunate to play four games in a Cowboys shirt. I can imagine how many Americans would love to do that… Unfortunately, I never had a college football CV."
On the state of South African rugby:
"We’ve got 14 unions. Can we really afford 14 unions? I don’t think so. I’m not saying that’s bad for the game. All I’m saying is: Let’s rather make sure that our first step is Primary School; then it’s High School; then it’s the next step. It’s like in America – the [tertiary institution]that you’ve got to attend before you can actually turn pro. We don’t have that anymore. Guys are leaving school today at 18 and he’s now a professional player. (Sic) Do you know if he’s going to make it? If [South Africa] want to take sport to the next level, we need to put better structures in place.
"The franchises should seriously consider privatisation. Let’s say we own the Kings and you’re the billionaire. You can go and offer [a player]20 million to stay in South Africa. Now, that can’t happen… Let’s say for argument’s sake that Vodacom buys the Bulls. They can offer any guy whatever. Why? Because they can afford it… You’re not really going to be successful if you keep losing your best players. Where’s Francois Hougaard now? He’s gone. He’s never coming back to the Bulls… The French and English clubs are buying us dry."
