Francois Hougaard (born 6 April 1988) is a South African professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

rugby player. His primary position is scrum-half, but also can play on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

Club career

Hougaard played for Western Province in 2007 before joining the Blue Bulls; he spent eight seasons at the Pretoria-based team, representing them in the Currie Cup as well as playing Super Rugby for the Bulls. Hougaard scored a try in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

final win 36–24 against the

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (formerly the Orange Free State), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, for sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by th ...

(3rd min) following a superb crosskick from

Fourie du Preez Petrus Fourie du Preez (; born 24 March 1982) is a South African former professional rugby union player. He played as a scrum half for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup competition and the Bulls in Super Rugby between 2002 and 2011, and for Japan ...

for his first final at 21 (the youngest player in the starting line) wearing the number 14 jersey. In the

2011 Super Rugby season The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...

, Hougaard showed great promise, adapting to his self-proclaimed preferred position of

scrum half Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture ...

in the absence of Fourie Du Preez, very well, and as a result, landed a position in the Springbok World Cup Squad for the 2011 tournament. At school he played for

Paul Roos Gymnasium Paul Roos Gymnasium is a public, dual medium (Afrikaans & English) high school for boys in the town of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa, and opened on the 1st of March 1866 as Stellenbosch Gymnasium. It is the 12th oldest school in the c ...

. In February 2016, Hougaard signed a short-term contract with

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 ...

club

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...

for the remainder of the 2015–2016 season. He made his debut for his new side in their match against

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the ...

, marking the occasion by scoring a try in a 31–23 victory and also put in a man-of-the-match performance in their 15–14 victory over the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football C ...

two weeks later. On 15 March 2016, it was announced that Hougaard signed a permanent contract with the team, but would be allowed to link up with the

South African sevens team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

to participate at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

. Hougaard left Worcester Warriors to join Premiership rivals

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

ahead of the 2021–22 season. He was made redundant along with every other Wasps player and coach when the team entered administration on 17 October 2022. Hougaard played St Andrew’s Golf Course in Scotland on 16 August 2021 and shot 7 over his best score to date. He is now seeking gold sponsorship from the Garden Nome company incorporated in order to attempt going professional.

International career

Hougaard represented between 2009 and 2014 and joined the South African Sevens team in 2015. His first tour with the Springboks was to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in late 2009 where he played in one test against Italy on 21 November 2009 and two touring matches. Hougaard helped his team to win both the Currie Cup in 2009, and 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 previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

title in 2010, scoring tries in both finals Hougaard was selected and joined off the bench for South Africa's opening match scoring in the 65th minute in a 17–16 win over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He was however dropped for the second game against Fiji which South Africa won 49-3 but started against Namibia in which he scored two tries and came off the bench against Samoa. South Africa was however knocked out of the Cup, losing 11–9 to Australia. Hougaard came on in the 50th minute during that match. Hougaard started all five games at scrum half against England and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and scored one try against England. However, he was moved to the

and his place at scrum half taken by the talented

Ruan Pienaar Ruan Pienaar (born 10 March 1984) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays either as a scrum-half or as a fly-half for the in the Currie Cup. Pienaar is the son of former Springbok fullback Gysie Pienaar. Ruan ...

in the first Championship Test against Australia on 8 September 2012. Hougaard signed a one-season contract with SA Rugby to represent the Blitzboks in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and at the Rio Olympics. Played in the first four legs of the 2015/16 series and scored the winning try in the 3rd/4th playoff against Australia at the Dubai Sevens. Hougaard was a member of the South African Sevens team that won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. During the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Hougaard was included as a travelling reserve, but was included on the bench for the final day of the Rugby sevens tournament after

Seabelo Senatla Seabelo Mohanoe Senatla (born 10 February 1993) is a South African rugby union player for the South African Sevens Side. He also plays for in Super Rugby and in the Currie Cup. His regular position is winger. Senatla was a member of the So ...

injured his wrist during the pool stages. After the medal ceremony Hougaard offered his Bronze medal to Senatla, stating that: "he deserves it more".

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hougaard, Francois 1988 births Rugby union players from Paarl South African rugby union players Living people South Africa international rugby union players Bulls (rugby union) players Blue Bulls players Western Province (rugby union) players Rugby union scrum-halves Rugby union wings Afrikaner people South African people of Danish descent South Africa Under-20 international rugby union players South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for South Africa South Africa international rugby sevens players Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Worcester Warriors players Expatriate rugby union players in France South African expatriate sportspeople in Japan South African expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate rugby union players in England Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium