The southern African nations of Zimbabwe and Zambia have given Australian rugby a lot.
Well, perhaps not a lot as far as sheer quantity, but quality? David Pocock and George Gregan were born in those neighbouring countries, before moving to Australia and becoming iconic Wallabies. Say no more.
Dan Botha has a long way to go to match those two but the young Waratahs prop has set his sights on at least joining the club.
The son of Zimbabwean dad Chris and Zambia-born mum Natalie, Botha is the starting tighthead prop for NSW and will play the Fijian Drua on Friday night at Allianz Stadium in the Tahs’ second game of the season.
Last week Botha played a full 80 minutes for NSW in their win over Queensland, continuing the 24-year-old’s steady rise among Australia’s top front rowers.
Following the departure of Taniela Tupou to France, Botha has a heavy weight on his shoulders. Throw in Angus Bell’s absence via sabbatical as well, and the Waratahs’ shallowest depth is seen in the front row, where no player has more than 30 Super games experience.
Dan Botha on the charge against the Reds for the Waratahs in round one.Credit: Getty Images
As the most senior tighthead with 23 games, Botha’s chance to stand up has arrived.
“It’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about, even last year,” he said. “I am hoping to kind of make that number my own this year and play consistently.”
Botha hasn’t had to wait for Tupou to depart to earn the starting no.3 jersey. With Tupou unable to find his best at the Tahs last year, the 120kg prop wore it for much of the season.
This year is Botha’s fourth at the Tahs, after emerging as schoolboy star from Scots College and the 2019 Australian Schools and under 18 side, and through the NSW academy and Sydney University.
Given props only get to their best in their late 20s, progression for Botha has been the standard fare for a young front-rower trying to learn the trade on the job in Super Rugby: growth via a regular diet of humble pie.
“Some of the best lessons as a front rower come when you are on the receiving end of a belting or two,” Waratahs scrum coach Dan Palmer said.
Botha adds: “Props take a while to develop, physically, and just having that experience definitely helps as well.
“I’ve definitely had lessons learned. In my first year (in 2023) we went up against the Brumbies, and we had a yellow card, and we were down to seven on our line. I went on for three minutes, pretty much, and got binned after a few scrums against Slipper, Lonergan and Alaalatoa.
Dan Botha at Waratahs training.Credit: Peter Rae
“It was a very humbling experience, and I’m sure there’ll be others along the way. But those are the ones where you learn the most. You get shitty with yourself after those experiences, but you learn a lot. And, yeah, you become better for it. I am getting a little bit older, I am 24 now, so I’m hoping to inflict the lessons on someone else.”
Botha comes from rugby stock; his father Chris played for Zimbabwe as a second rower in the 1991 Rugby World Cup.
But like the Pocock family, who were displaced from their farm in 2001, Botha’s parents were forced to leave their tobacco farm in Karoi, Zimbabwe, in the mid-90s. Dan was born in Sydney in 2002.
“Like David Pocock’s story, how they got kicked off the farm, pretty much the same thing happened to my family,” Botha said. “They were actually telling me a story the other day, when they first arrived in 1996, they went straight to a Tahs game. They were versing Tranvsaal at the SFS. I think it was the first Super 12 game.”
Thirty years on, their son last week ran out for the Waratahs at the same location. And while Botha’s dad now lives in South Africa, the young prop still had plenty of family and friends in the stands.
Led by former Brumby and Force half Ian Prior, Zimbabwe last year earned a spot at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia – for the first time since 1991 – and Botha says there had been “conversations” with the Sables about interest in following in his dad’s footsteps. But Botha played for Australia A last year, committing his immediate future to gold.
“I’m Australian – I was born here,” he said. “Maybe down the line if I’m still playing when I’m an old bugger, that could be an option. But right now I’m set on trying to make this World Cup and playing for the Wallabies. That’s the dream.”
Palmer believes his young charge has the potential: “Dan works incredibly hard on developing his game and I have no doubt when he earns that opportunity, he will be in a position to grab it with both hands.”
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