Francois "Faf" de Klerk (born 19 October 1991) is a South African professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who plays scrum-half for Japan Rugby League One club Yokohama Canon Eagles and the South Africa national team. He was a member of the South Africa team that won the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

Pre-professional career

Born in Nelspruit (now Mbombela), De Klerk played rugby at Hoërskool Waterkloof in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

Career

De Klerk was included in the squad for the 2014 Super Rugby season and made his debut in a 21–20 victory over the in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legislative capital Cape To ...

. He joined the Currie Cup team for the 2016 season. He joined

English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side Sale Sharks prior to the 2017–18 season on a three-year contract. In December 2018, the club announced that De Klerk signed a contract extension until 2023. After four seasons with the Sharks, de Klerk announced in June 2022 that he would be departing the club at the end of the 2021-22 season to join Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan Rugby League One.

International career

De Klerk was rewarded for his Super Rugby form when he was selected by the then recently appointed Springbok coach

Allister Coetzee Allister Coetzee (born in Makhanda) is a South African rugby union coach and former player, currently in charge of the Namibian national team on a part time basis, whilst also head coach of Rugby Rovigo in Italy. He served as the head coach o ...

in 's 31-man squad for their 2016 three-test match series against and made his test debut as the starting scrum-half in the opening test at

Newlands Stadium The Newlands Stadium, referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all-seater venue. Various sports teams use the stadium as their hom ...

. In a tightly-fought series, Ireland won the first test 26−20, but the Springboks fought back to clinch the series, winning 32−26 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

and 19−13 in Port Elizabeth. After signing for Sale Sharks in 2017, De Klerk was ineligible to represent the Springboks due to having fewer than 30 caps. However, after this selection criterion was abolished in 2018, new Springbok coach

Rassie Erasmus Johan "Rassie" Erasmus (born 5 November 1972) is a South African rugby union coach and former player. He was the head coach of the South Africa national rugby union team, South African national team from 2018 to the end of their 2019 World Cup ...

recalled De Klerk to the team for the 2018 three-test match series against . He was a member of South Africa's victorious

2019 Rugby Championship Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Mus ...

campaign and was duly selected for the

. In their 20 October quarter-final match against Japan, he was named Player of the Match. He was a key player for South Africa's World Cup victory, being named as the starting scrum-half in two of their pool matches, as well as all their play-off games. He scored a try in their quarter-final win over . De Klerk was once again included as the starting scrum-half against England in the 2019

Rugby World Cup Final The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition established in 1987. It is contested by the men's national teams of the member unions of the sport's governing body, World Rugby, and takes place every four years. The winners of the ...

, which saw South Africa beating England 32−12 to secure a third

Webb Ellis Cup The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the men's Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as being the inventor of rugby footb ...

lift.

International tries

References

External links

* *
Interview with BBC Sport (November 2019)
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Klerk, Francois Living people 1991 births Afrikaner people South African rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves People from Mbombela Pumas (Currie Cup) players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union players from Mpumalanga Golden Lions players Sale Sharks players Yokohama Canon Eagles players