Frans Roelf Petrus van Wyk (born 25 April 1995 in

Delareyville Delareyville is a maize- and peanut-farming town situated in North West Province (South Africa), North West Province of South Africa. The town is 96 km south-west of Lichtenburg, North West, Lichtenburg, 82 km north-east of Vryburg, 114& ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

) is a South African

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 in

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 ...

, the in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup () is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

and the in the Rugby Challenge. He regularly plays as a prop.

Career

He went to primary school in

Kroonstad Kroonstad ( in Afrikaans) is a town in Free State, South Africa, consisting of the following suburbs: Brentpark, Constantia, Constantia Park, Dawid Malanville, Elandia, Gelukwaarts, Goedgedacht, Heuningspruit, Industria, Jordania, Koek ...

, where he earned a provincial call-up to represent the at the Under-13 Craven Week competition in 2008. He moved 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 ...

and went to Monument High School in

Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius and Abner Cohen. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a ...

, which meant he would represent the provincially. He appeared for them at the 2011 Under-16 Grant Khomo week, as well as at the premier South African high school rugby competition, 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 ...

, in both 2012 and 2013. After high school, he made the move to

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

to join the Western Province Rugby Institute. He was included in the side that participated in the

2014 Under-19 Provincial Championship The 2014 ABSA Under-19 Provincial Championship was a rugby union competition held between the Under-19 players from the fourteen provincial rugby unions in South Africa, plus the sub-union. It was contested from 11 July to 25 October 2014. Gr ...

and started the season in fine form, scoring two tries in their opening match of the season against in a 50–26 victory. He made a total of nine appearances in both the loosehead and tighthead prop position as they went all the way in the competition, beating the 33–26 in the final in Cape Town to be crowned the 2014 champions. He made his first class debut on 21 March 2015, coming on as a substitute for in their

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Afr ...

match against the in Caledon. He also played off the bench in their next match against a in Crawford. He was named in a 37-man training squad for the

South Africa national under-20 rugby union team The South Africa national under-20 rugby union team (nicknamed the Junior Boks or the Baby Boks) are South Africa's junior team at national level. They have been competing in the World Rugby Under 20 Championship (formerly the IRB Junior World Ch ...

and featured for them in a friendly match against a Varsity Cup Dream Team in April 2015. He was also included in the squad that embarked on a two-match tour of

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 ...

. He came on as a replacement in their 25–22 victory over

, but did not feature in their 39–28 victory a few days later. Upon the team's return, he was named in the final squad for the

2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship The 2015 World Rugby Under 20 Championship was the eighth annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised for the second time in Italy by rugby's governing body, World Rugby. Twelve nations played i ...

. He played off the bench in all three of their matches in Pool B of the competition; a 33–5 win against hosts

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

which saw Van Wyk score South Africa's final try of the match in the 78th minute, a 40–8 win against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

and a 46–13 win over

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

to help South Africa finish top of Pool B to qualify for the semi-finals with the best record pool stage of all the teams in the competition. Van Wyk also came on as a replacement in their semi-final match against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, but could not prevent them losing 20–28 to be eliminated from the competition by England for the second year in succession, as well as in their third-place play-off match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where he helped South Africa to a 31–18 win to secure third place in the competition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Wyk, Frans 1995 births Alumni of Hoërskool Monument Living people People from Tswaing Local Municipality South African rugby union players Rugby union props Western Province (rugby union) players South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Stormers players Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Golden Lions players Oyonnax Rugby players Rugby union players from North West (South African province) South African expatriate rugby union players in France 21st-century South African sportsmen