BJ Botha hoping to secure contract extension with Munster

Brendan James Botha wants to extend his stay with Munster beyond this season and hopes a deal can be inked in the near future.

“I’m very happy here,” said the 35-year-old who played for Ulster from 2008 to 2011 before joining Munster. “This is my fourth year here, we are settled as a family which is the most important thing, The rugby part is good, and these are a great bunch of guys to play with and the performances are coming together slowly. It’s not my decision as to how long I’ll be here. We’ll just concentrate what’s on the field at this stage. I’m at a stage in my career when I still want to play for a few more years.

“My contract is until the end of this season. I’m not in the same situation as the younger guys they are signing up for the future. I’m in a different bracket. “But would I like to stay? Of course. The answer is a big Yes.”

Both is enthused by the recent form which has seen Munster move top of the Guinness Pro 12. He explained: “We’re building momentum. We’re not happy with our whole game, there are things we can do and be more consistent with. The results at the weekend were good for us although the scoreline shows something different from what actually happened in our game. It could have turned very quickly but credit to the guys, they stuck at it and backed our performance to finish off the game and get a massive result.”

Meetings of Munster and Ospreys are invariably tight affairs and sometimes quite fractious and Botha doesn’t expect anything different on this occasion. “It’s always been tough, demanding and physical. Being out of Europe was tough and took a lot out of us but being professional athletes, we got over it, bounced back in the Sale Sharks game and now we look forward to making a stand in this one. Ospreys always up their game for us, there will be a lot of physicality no matter what side they put out, so you have to match that. I’ve been watching the Six Nations and taking more interest in our Munster guys in the Irish team. Everything about it is positive.

“It’s a World Cup year. Winning the Grand Slam would be a big thing for Ireland and it’s the kind of competition I would have liked to play in.”