Francois Uys

The Cheetahs, in a surprise move, named Francois Uys as their captain for the Super Rugby season.

Uys will be leading the team, joined by the vice-captain Sarel Pretorius.

The ‘well-informed’ media in Bloemfontein have been speculating for weeks that Japan-based Springbok Heinrich Brüssow would get the leadership armband.

However, coach Naka Drotské decided to go with Uys – starting from Saturday, when they take on the South African conference champions, the Cell C Sharks, in Durban.

Uys, born in Springs, played his junior rugby for the Falcons – at the Under 18 Craven Week (2004), the Golden Lions in the Under 19 competition (2005) and Under 21 Competitions (2006 and 2007).

Uys was a member of the South Africa Under 19 side that competed in the 2005 IRB Under 19 World Championship.

He made his first class debut for the Golden Lions in the Vodacom Cup against Falcons in Kemptonpark on 3 March 2006, nine days before his 20th birthday.

He started his senior career in Johannesburg with the Golden Lions (2006 to 2008: 24 matches, 5 tries). However, he found first-team opportunities hard to come by and in 2009 he switched to the Free State Cheetahs.

Initially he played mainly in the Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup competitions (2009 to 2014: 68 matches, 8 tries) and even had a spell on loan at the Griffons (2008, 2010 and 2012: 14 matches, 1 try).

He made sporadic appearances for the senior Cheetahs team in Super Rugby (2009, 2011 to 2014: 49 matches, 1 try) after his debut against the Blues at Eden Park, Auckland, on 13 March 2009.

He finally nailed down a regular starting berth during the 2013 and 2014 Super Rugby seasons.

In 2014, he extended his contract at the Free State Cheetahs until October 2016.

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