Franco Smith
Full names: Petrus Francois Smith
Date of birth: 29 Jul 1972
Place of birth: Lichtenburg
School: Sand du Plessis
Springbok no: 643
Springbok debut province: Cheetahs
Physical: 1.82m, 88.9kg
Current age: 52
Test summary: Tests: 9 Tries: 2
First Test: 6 Dec 1997 Age 25 - Reserve against Scotland at Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Last Test: 7 Aug 1999 Age 27 - Inside Centre against New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Tours Argentina, France & Wales 1996 Italy, France, England & Scotland 1997 Wales, Scotland, Ireland & England 1998
Test history:
DateAgePositionOpponentVenueResultScoreProvince
06 Dec 1997 25Reserve Scotland Murrayfield, Edinburgh Win: 68-101 try Griquas
13 Jun 1998 25Reserve Ireland Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein Win: 37-13  Griquas
20 Jun 1998 25Flyhalf Ireland Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria Win: 33-0  Blue Bulls
27 Jun 1998 25Flyhalf Wales Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria Win: 96-131 try Blue Bulls
25 Jul 1998 25Reserve New Zealand Athletic Park, Wellington Win: 13-3  Blue Bulls
15 Aug 1998 26Reserve New Zealand Kingspark, Durban Win: 24-23  Blue Bulls
22 Aug 1998 26Reserve Australia Ellispark, Johannesburg Win: 29-15  Blue Bulls
14 Nov 1998 26Inside Centre Wales Wembley, London Win: 28-202 conversions, 3 penalties Blue Bulls
07 Aug 1999 27Inside Centre New Zealand Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria Lose: 18-34  Blue Bulls

Sketch in 1997 SA vs Scotland programme

Petrus Francois Smith first won selection for the Springboks on their tour of Argentina, France and Wales last year. He played all five midweek matches on that tour and acted as goal-kicked scoring 50 points. He has played club rugby in Italy with Modena and is a product of the South African Universities, under-23 and Barbarians sides. He played his early rugby in Free State before linking up with former Springbok coach André Markgraaff at Griqualand West in 1996. He was first chosen in the South African Test squad for the match against Australia in Pretoria this year.