Botha playing for his future at Irish
HIGH-impact back rower Arno Botha believes London Irish can still pull off a miracle despite their parlous position at the foot of the Premiership.
Irish travel to Wasps with renewed confidence following last week’s victory over Worcester, However, they remain 12 points from safety with just six games remaining, meaning they must win half of those matches simply to have a chance.
Botha, man-of-the-match against the Warriors, told
The Rugby Paper: “We know that Wasps are good but we put in a great team performance last week and it would be awesome to be part of a London Irish team that stays in this league.
“It’s not in our hands, we’re depending on other teams to lose even if we win, but we’ll still focus on every game and I actually think this team deserves to stay up.
“I’ve only been here two months but I’ve never been with a team before that’s bottom of the log but still has so much energy about it. That comes from a combination of senior players, junior players and coaches and there’s a fantastic vibe.”
Botha, who joined Irish on a short-term deal after his Super Rugby contract with the Bulls expired in November, is aiming to rebuild his career in Europe after a cruel run of injuries that stymied any hopes of adding to his two South Africa caps.
After rupturing knee ligaments five minutes into his second Test appearance against Scotland in 2013, Botha suffered a similar injury the following year, before a further knee injury sustained in April last year cost him a move to Ulster.
Despite his adversity, the all-action 26-year-old clings on to his Springbok dream, explaining: “I definitely still have Springboks ambitions and believe it can be possible, but for now I must just focus on playing my best rugby here in England.
“I have been unlucky with injury and I don’t have a contract beyond this season yet, but my longterm goal is to stay in Europe and I just want to play rugby to my highest standard. If I do that, the contract will follow and I can move forward.”
Botha added: “To make the World Cup next year I need to be consistently good, but I’m still young and coming to Irish has given me a fresh start.”
Danny Cipriani returns at fly-half from an Achilles injury for Wasps. Brendan Macken partners Jimmy Gopperth in the midfield as Juan de Jongh misses out with a hamstring injury.
Irish are unchanged from the side which secured just their second Premiership win of the season.