Frano Michael Botica (born 3 August 1963) is a New Zealand-Croatian rugby union and rugby league coach and former player in both codes, who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the head coach of the Philippines sevens team.
He represented New Zealand at both codes, and later also played for Croatia in two rugby union World Cup qualifying matches.
Rugby union
Born in Mangakino, New Zealand, Botica played rugby union for club side North Shore, New Zealand provincial side North Harbour, as well as Llanelli in Wales, and spent a period in France.
Botica played 7 test matches between 1986-89 including two test matches in France. Botica was a member of the All Blacks World Cup winning squad of 1987 and toured with the All Blacks to Britain in 1989 and played in several of the mid-week matches.
Botica appeared for the New Zealand Māori (1985-1989), New Zealand Emerging Players (1985), North Island in the 1986 inter-island match and for the Anzac XV that played the British Lions in Australia in 1989. He even appeared in the Super 12, once for the Chiefs in 1998.
He played for New Zealand sevens in eight international tournaments between 1985 and 1988, and was part of the first New Zealand team to win a Hong Kong Sevens title in 1986.
In the early part of his rugby union career he was a rival to Grant Fox for the All Blacks number 10 jersey. Botica was regarded as more a running player whereas Fox was considered a superior kicker and it was Fox who eventually won the selectors' favour, forcing Botica to the bench and restricting the number of rugby union tests he played. Ironically, after switching codes Botica became known as one of the most dependable goal-kickers in rugby league.
Rugby league
Club career
Botica joined Wigan (Heritage № 855) in British rugby league in 1990. While at Wigan he became a prolific points scorer and the fastest man in the history of British league to reach 1,000 points.
In 1991 he played for the New Zealand Māori side in his first match of rugby league in New Zealand.
During the 1991–92 season, he played for defending champions Wigan on the wing in their 21–4 victory against the visiting Australian champions Penrith in the 1991 World Club Challenge played at Anfield in Liverpool.
During the 1992-93 season, Botica played at for Wigan in the 1992 World Club Challenge against the 1992 Winfield Cup premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. Brisbane became the first Australian side to win the World Club Challenge in England when they defeated Wigan 22–8 at Wigan's Central Park.
Botica played , and kicked every point in Wigan's 5–4 victory over St. Helens in the 1992 Lancashire Cup Final.
He scored 3 conversions in Wigan's 15–8 victory over Bradford Northern in the 1992–93 Regal Trophy Final, and scored a conversion in the 2–33 defeat by Castleford in the 1993–94 Regal Trophy Final and scored a try and 8 conversions in the 40–10 victory over Warrington in the 1994–95 Regal Trophy Final. Frano Botica holds the records for the most conversions (8) and points (16) in a Regal Trophy (or precursors) Final.
Botica played in the 1994 World Club Challenge against the Broncos again, this time at the ANZ Stadium in Brisbane. Wigan reversed the 1992 result with a 20–14 win in front of a WCC record attendance of 54,220 fans, including a number of Wigan supporters who had travelled to Australia to watch the game. Known as a very accurate goal kicker, Botica kicked four goals from four attempts on the night.
Botica set a new record for most goals in a season for Wigan when he kicked 186 during the 1994–95 Rugby Football League season. He returned to New Zealand to play for the Auckland Warriors during their inaugural year in 1995, before returning to England to play for the Castleford Tigers (Heritage № 727) in 1996.
International
Botica played in seven internationals for New Zealand between 1991 and 1993.