Franco Stephan Marais (born 23 September 1992) 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 Red Hurricanes in the Japanese

Top League Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as the Top League (), is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by ...

. His usual position is hooker. In March 2018 it was announced that Marais would join

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

side

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

for the 2018–19 season. He will leave Gloucester at the end of 2019–20 season to join Japanese side Red Hurricanes. A side now under leadership of Gloucester's former head coach Johan Ackermann.

References

Living people 1992 births South African rugby union players Sharks (Currie Cup) players Sharks (rugby union) players Rugby union hookers South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players Gloucester Rugby players NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes Osaka players Rugby union players from Gauteng Urayasu D-Rocks players South African expatriate rugby union players in England South African expatriate rugby union players in Japan 21st-century South African sportsmen Lions (United Rugby Championship) players Golden Lions players {{SouthAfrica-rugbyunion-bio-1990s-stub