Franco Johan Naudé (born 28 March 1996) is a South African professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player for the

Lokomotiv Penza Lokomotiv is a Russian rugby union club from Penza. It is the professional section of Imperia-Dynamo Penza, an amateur rugby club. Founded at November 2018. Current squad 2022 Rugby Premier League Record in European Games Honours Rugb ...

in Russian Rugby Championship. His regular position is centre.

Rugby career

2013–2014: Schoolboy rugby

Naudé was born in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. He attended and playing rugby union at Hoërskool Garsfontein, where he was also selected to represent the in the Under-18

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The ...

– 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.

2015–2017: Youth rugby

After high school, Naudé joined the ' academy, He firmly established himself in the 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 , and and one try against Leopards U21 and before getting a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in their final match of the regular season in a 49–26 victory over top-of-the-table to help the Blue Bulls secure second place on the log. He didn't score in their 30–29 victory over in the semi-final or their 23–25 defeat to Eastern Province U19 in the final, but finished as his team's top try scorer, and second overall in Group A of the competition log behind the Leopards U21s' Zweli Silaule. In March 2016, he was included in a South Africa Under-20 training squad, and made the cut in a reduced provisional squad a week later. He was also named in the 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 in Round One of the competition, also starting their 17–38 defeat to

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

rivals the a fortnight later. On 10 May 2016, he was included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the

2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the ninth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in England by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations took part in the tourname ...

tournament to be held in

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. 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

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59–19. He started at inside centre for their second pool match, a 13–19 defeat to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and again found himself on the bench as South Africa bounced back to secure a 40-31 bonus-point victory over

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in their final pool match. 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

. The hosts proved too strong for South Africa, knocking them out of the competition with a 39–17 victory, 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 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 before starting their match against in

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. Naudé scored his first try in first class rugby in that match, helping his team to a 45–26 victory and seventh place on the log. He then made six starts for the team in the 2016 Under-21 Provincial Championship. He scored four tries during the season – one against and a hat-trick against in a 52–38 victory in their final match of the regular season. The team finished in third spot, but Naudé didn't feature in their semi-final defeat to . He finished as his team's joint top-scorer, alongside namesake Dewald Naudé. In November 2016, he was named in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

team's extended training squad during the team's preparations for the

2017 Super Rugby season The 2017 Super Rugby season was the 22nd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the second season featuring an expanded ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naude, Franco South African rugby union players Living people 1996 births Rugby union players from Pretoria Rugby union centres Blue Bulls players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Bulls (rugby union) players Pumas (Currie Cup) players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Golden Lions players VVA Podmoskovye players Slava Moscow players Lokomotiv Penza players Expatriate rugby union players in Russia South African expatriate rugby union players 21st-century South African sportsmen