Francois van Wyk

Francois Daniel "Slak" van Wyk (born 30 July 1991) is a South African rugby union player who currently plays as a loosehead prop for Bath in England's Premiership Rugby. He has previously played for Northampton Saints & Leicester Tigers in the Premiership, the Western Force in Super Rugby as well as in his native South Africa.

Career Van Wyk was born and raised in the Western Cape and played junior rugby for both and . He was also a member of the side which lifted the 2011 Varsity Cup, playing in all of his side's 9 games and featuring alongside future Western Force team-mate Marcel Brache.

Opportunities at provincial level proved harder to come by and he only managed 2 appearances for Western Province, both of which came during the 2013 Vodacom Cup. This limitation in game time saw him move to Australia to link up with the Perth based Western Force.

For 2014, Van Wyk was named as a member of the Force's Wider Training Group alongside Ollie Hoskins, Brad Lacey, Dillyn Leyds and Dylan Sage.

It was announced on May 10, 2017 that Van Wyk would join English side Northampton Saints for the 2017/18 campaign.

On 8 March 2021, it was confirmed that van Wyk would sign for local rivals Leicester Tigers in the Premiership Rugby from the 2021-22 season. Van Wyk made his Leicester debut against Exeter Chiefs on 18 September 2021. On 30 October 2021, van Wyk scored his first try for Leicester in the East Midlands Derby against his former club, Northampton Saints. Van Wyk was sent off on 3 December 2022 after coming on as a substitute in a match against Bristol Bears.

On 17 April 2024, Bath announced Van Wyk would join them for two seasons starting from that summer.

On 21 January 2026, it was confirmed that van Wyk would leave Bath to sign for Irish province Connacht in the URC competition for the 2026-27 season.

Super Rugby statistics

Season Team Games Starts Sub Mins Tries Cons Pens Drops Points Yel Red 2014 2 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2015 2 1 1 61 1 0 0 0 5 0 0 2016 7 4 3 343 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2017 8 3 5 251 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Total 19 8 11 661 1 0 0 0 5 0 0