Peter Bills: South Africa reaping what they've sowed

Bakkies Botha, the Bulls and SARU should all hang their heads in shame. Photo / Getty Images

Bakkies Botha caught an aeroplane out of New Zealand late Sunday night, the start of a long flight home to South Africa in which shame and humiliation would have been his only companions.

Botha's 2010 Tri-Nations tournament ended after 51 minutes, the time it took his coach to substitute him during last Saturday night's test match against the All Blacks at Eden Park, Auckland.

In truth, it should have ended with a red card after 29 seconds, the time it took for the giant Springbok lock to head-butt from behind New Zealand halfback Jimmy Cowan.

Botha's act was out of all proportion. He smashed his forehead so hard into the back of Cowan's head that even he had a big red mark on his brow soon after.

But you know what? I feel sorry for Bakkies Botha. He's seen in this land as an ogre, but believe me, he's not.

There he sat, a hoodie over his head and shoulders, abandoned like some unwanted child, beside the touchline at Eden Park as he sat out a 10-minute, yellow-card banishment for another, unrelated offence in that dramatic first half.

Botha isn't a fool; he knew he'd landed his mates in the soup. But the look of bewilderment on the face of the big Bulls and Springbok lock told you all you needed to know about the failure of South African rugby regarding Bakkies Botha.

It has been the failure of their authorities, every bit as much as that of himself that is responsible for the crisis in which he finds himself.

For make no mistake, Botha is facing a major crisis in his sporting life. His whole rugby future is in the balance; will he play much more for the Springboks?

Exactly why the Bulls colossus finds himself in this parlous position is a question that should be addressed to the authorities at the Bulls and the South African Rugby Union (SARU).

For the fact is, this was no one-off, out-of-character incident of thuggery by Botha. There have been too many - far too many - in recent years for his or South African rugby's own good and image.

The problem has been that some fool somewhere once dubbed Bakkies "The Enforcer" and the moniker has stuck. South Africans have loved that absurd title and all that it suggests. Botha, I suspect, has started to believe he must live up to it. With disastrous consequences.

It is bizarre that Botha has been allowed continually to offend in major matches to the extent of acquiring yellow cards and suspensions. Someone, somewhere should have done something about this problem long ago.

Why didn't they? For the answer to that, I suspect you have to delve deep into the roots and psyche of South African rugby men. There is a belief - a core philosophy - that this is a man's game and a few punches, head-butts and the like are all part and parcel of the game.

And of course they were in the amateur days. Trouble is, rugby has moved on, but attitudes in the South African game have not necessarily kept pace with them.

No professional sport can tolerate seeing players head-butted. Here in New Zealand, one parent called a radio station the morning after Botha's assault on Jimmy Cowan and said: "I saw that and I am scared for my son playing this sport. I no longer want him to be involved."

That is the price rugby pays for the wild, indisciplined acts of players like Bakkies Botha. And South African rugby is to blame because it has let him get away with it for too long.

He should have been quietly taken aside long ago and warned that if he didn't clean up his act he would no longer be selected.

That, I believe, would have pretty much solved the problem. Instead, it has been allowed to fester until it has become a major issue.

For that state of affairs, Bakkies Botha, the Bulls and SARU should all hang their heads in shame.

* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media in London