Bates played his senior provincial rugby in South Africa for and . He made his test debut for the
Springboks during the
1969–70 tour of Britain and Ireland, against at
Twickenham. He also played test matches against the
All Blacks in 1970 and the one-off test against in 1972. He also played in fourteen tour matches, scoring one try for the Springboks.
Test history ==See also==