Franco Naudé

Franco Johan Naudé (born (1996-03-28)28 March 1996) is a South African rugby union player, currently playing with the Bulls in Super Rugby and the Blue Bulls in the domestic Currie Cup.^[1] His regular position is centre.

Rugby career

2013–2014: Schoolboy rugby

Naudé was born in Pretoria. He attended and playing rugby union at Hoërskool Garsfontein, where he was also selected to represent the Blue Bulls in the Under-18 Craven Week – South Africa's premier high school rugby union tournament – in both 2013 and 2014. He started all three matches in each tournament, scoring a try for the Blue Bulls in the 2013 tournament against KwaZulu-Natal.^[2]

2015–present: Youth rugby

After high school, Naudé joined the Blue Bulls' academy,^[3] He firmly established himself in the Blue Bulls U19 team, starting all fourteen of their matches in the 2015 Under-19 Provincial Championship. He scored eleven tries during the regular season – he scored two tries in matches against Sharks U21,^[4] Western Province U19^[5] and Leopards^[6] and one try against Leopards U21^[7] and Free State U19^[8] before getting a hat-trick in their final match of the regular season in a 49–26 victory over top-of-the-table Eastern Province U19^[9] to help the Blue Bulls secure second place on the log.^[10] He didn't score in their 30–29 victory over Western Province U19 in the semi-final^[11] or their 23–25 defeat to Eastern Province U19 in the final,^[12] but finished as his team's top try scorer, and second overall in Group A of the competition log behind the Leopards U21's Zweli Silaule.^[13]

In March 2016, he was included in a South Africa Under-20 training squad,^[14] and made the cut in a reduced provisional squad a week later.^[15]

He was also named in the Blue Bulls squad for the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series and he made his first class debut on 8 April 2016, starting in their 16–30 defeat to Western Province in Round One of the competition,^[16] also starting their 17–38 defeat to Gauteng rivals the Golden Lions a fortnight later.^[17]

On 10 May 2016, he was included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship tournament to be held in Manchester in England.^[18] He started their opening match in Pool C of the tournament on the bench, appearing for the final 25 minutes as South Africa came from behind to beat Japan 59–19.^[19] He started at inside centre for their second pool match, a 13–19 defeat to Argentina,^[20] and again found himself on the bench as South Africa bounced back to secure a 40-31 bonus-point victory over France in their final pool match.^[21] The result meant South Africa secured a semi-final place as the best runner-up in the competition, and Naudé again played off the bench in their semi-final match as they faced three-time champions England. The hosts proved too strong for South Africa, knocking them out of the competition with a 39–17 victory,^[22] and they also lost the third-place play-off match against Argentina, with Naudé starting the match as the South American side beat South Africa for the second time in the tournament, convincingly winning 49–19^[23] to condemn South Africa to fourth place in the competition.

Naudé returned to domestic action to make a further two appearances for the Blue Bulls in the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series; he played off the bench in their 26–35 defeat to the Boland Cavaliers^[24] before starting their match against Border Bulldogs in East London. Naudé scored his first try in first class rugby in that match, helping his team to a 45–26 victory^[25] and seventh place on the log.^[26]

He then made six starts for the Blue Bulls U21 team in the 2016 Under-21 Provincial Championship. He scored four tries during the season – one against Golden Lions U21^[27] and a hat-trick against Leopards U21 in a 52–38 victory in their final match of the regular season.^[28] The team finished in third spot,^[29] but Naudé didn't feature in their semi-final defeat to Golden Lions U21.^[30] He finished as his team's joint top-scorer, alongside namesake Dewald Naudé.^[31]

In November 2016, he was named in the Bulls Super Rugby team's extended training squad during the team's preparations for the 2017 Super Rugby season.^[32]

References