Butch James to leave Bath rugby before joining Golden Lions
Butch James made an announcement today that he will be leaving Bath rugby an year prior to join Golden Lions the South African club. He admitted though, that this long time at The Rec had been the best for his career and game both.
The fly half James was originally signed to Bath till season 2012, but it was revealed as the Johannesburg team’s fresh signing at a profligate media presence at Lanseria International Airport today. It was disclosed in December 2011 that a delegation from
Golden Lions had gone to Bath and had talks with James, who has been eager for a past few months to return to his home to pump up his World Cup chances.
Bath Rugby snubbed the initial request by Lions to buy James out of his deal, but implied he would be granted permission to leave the contract a year early and fly to South Africa at the end of the season.
Andrew David James is a rugby union player for Springboks, who usually plays as a fly half but mostly as an inside center. He has capped South Africa forty times and was a member of World Cup 2007 winning side. He is actually been nicknamed as Butch and
is also known as Anto or Deco. He started with College Rovers in 1999 and then joined Natal Sharks in provincial rugby in 2000. He was signed by super rugby side Sharks in 2001 and he played their till 2007. His current local club is Bath rugby where he is
playing since 2007. He has been playing for his national team Springboks since 2001 and has been compared to Jonny Wilkinson, while he was standing opposite to him in 2007 World Cup final, helping South Africa to 15-6 epic win.
James is getting married this weekend in his homeland and will be joining Super 15 in May after the Bath’s season is done. The head coach for Bath Steve Meehan said, “Butch is a very talented rugby player, and so we will obviously be disappointed to see
him leave at the end of the season.”
He added, “I have absolutely no doubt, however, that he will still play a very important part for us in the remainder of this season, and will be aiming to leave the club with a fantastic season completed.”
James seems excited and is looking forward for this development. He said, “I want to give myself the best possible shot at playing for South Africa in the World Cup, and I feel that is best achieved by returning home and being in the country.”
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