Watson has been controversial due to his relationship with then-national coach Jake White, political interference in his selection for the 2007 Springbok team, interaction with the squad afterwards, and his comments in a speech.

Watson told a public gathering on 3 October 2008 that he had to stop himself from vomiting when he wore the Springbok jersey, and referred to black players such as Zola Yeye who during apartheid had been excluded from national selection.

[12] While attending Grey Junior School in Port Elizabeth Luke realized, at the age of 7, that because they associated with blacks and had supported the anti-apartheid struggle, his family was different from other white South Africans.

Aged 16, he scored a try in their 21-all draw against Griqualand-West,[20][21] and was in the Eastern Province schools team that played in a curtain raiser for the test between South Africa and Canada on 10 June.

[34][35] Watson was selected for the South African Sevens team that played at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, replacing Marius Schoeman[36] who withdrew due to a broken arm.

[45] Watson was selected in 2004 to represent South Africa in the IRB's Under 21 Rugby World Championship in a team that included Andries Bekker, Bryan Habana and Wynand Olivier.

[47] Watson later credited former Springbok and national coach Michael du Plessis as the person (apart from his father) who had the greatest influence on his playing abilities early on.

During round one of the Currie Cup[51] Watson was included in the Elephants' first match against the Pumas on 20 July after impressing coach Allister Coetzee[52] with his speed and work rate in the warm-up game against Boland.

[55] By the end of the 2002 season Watson was called "promising" and "one of the most exciting young ball fetchers in the country",[59] and by November he was being actively sought by the Durban-based Sharks.

[61] By June 2003[62] he had signed up with rugby agent Jason Smith's World Artists, who represented South African players such as Victor Matfield and Clyde Rathbone locally and abroad.

[66] He made the squad for what would have been his Super 12 debut on 21 February against a Stormers side that included "two of the best fetchers in South Africa, Corné Krige en Hendrik Gerber".

[68] During the Super 12 season "the exciting" Watson was commended for combining "a high tackle count with good skills" while producing "sparkling tries", as he did in the Sharks' 35–20 loss to the Hurricanes in March.

[74] The 2003 Currie Cup season started badly for Watson, who had contracted tick-bite fever and was forced to miss the Sharks' first warm-up game in July.

[83] Coach Gert Smal included Watson in his Super 12 training camp at Somerset-West in January, and in the team for their warm-up games against Boland and Welsh side Gwent Dragons.

[109][110] According to statistics compiled by the New Zealand company Verusco, Watson was the second best openside flanker in the 2006 Super 14 competition, preceded only by Richie McCaw and followed by Phil Waugh.

"[119] White's public stance against shorter loose forwards was contradicted in November 2006 when he included Kabamba Floors for the Springbok squad against England in the place of an injured Pierre Spies.

The elder Watson said that White, while the coach of the Under-21 national team, had told a South African Rugby Football Union before witnesses that he would not select Luke " 'because he would come with his father's baggage' ".

Watson reportedly said: "Obviously I would love to play for the Springboks, but I do not want to find myself in a position where I'm compromising my beliefs in equality, integrity and honour to achieve that goal.

[128] Watson's comments raised concerns that he could be charged by SARU for "bringing the game into disrepute", a broadly defined transgression that can be used to sanction players and officials who make negative public statements.

[135][136] In May 2007 White and selectors Pieter Jooste and Ian Macintosh, the former national coach, submitted a list of 45 players to the South African Rugby Union for the Springbok training squad.

Politicians such as Butana Komphela, ANC chairman of the parliamentary sports portfolio committee, and the then-Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool, also insisted on Watson's inclusion.

[50] The nature of the relationship between Watson and his teammates for the test against Samoa can be gauged from reports that the senior Springboks "had refused to initiate him into the squad", saying that Yeye, Stofile, and Hoskins should do it instead.

[125][144] As part of his forced selection Watson was included in the tour to Australia and New Zealand for the away leg of the Tri-Nations series, as White rested many of his first-choice players.

In a question and answer session after the speech Watson allegedly stated that he hated losing his place in the Bok team to an Afrikaner (Schalk Burger, a former IRB Player of the Year).

[154] Journalist Andrew Austin summed up the reactions to the speech by noting how in general terms Watson's story reveals ongoing divides between Afrikaans- and English-speaking South Africans, as well as between those designated "whites" and "blacks".

[159][160][161] A number of senior players reportedly threatened to boycott the 2008 end of year tour to England, Wales and Scotland if Watson was included in the squad.

[164] When Watson made his first playing appearance after the incident, in a friendly warm-up match against English club Saracens at Newlands in January 2009, he was repeatedly booed by his home crowd.

[196] Stephen Jones, a rugby correspondent for The Times who was following the Lions tour, described Watson as "nothing more than a Currie Cup player" and as a "second or third choice" for a Guinness Premiership club.

[198] Watson left South Africa to join Bath Rugby in November 2009, when the club was lying 11th of the 12 teams in the Guinness Premiership table[199] after losing key players to drug controversy during the June 2009 off-season.

[224] Despite his absence, the Kings won the final of the competition, beating the Pumas 26–25 in Port Elizabeth,[225] but failed to gain promotion to the Premier Division, losing to the Free State Cheetahs in a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off.