Piers Francis

Piers Francis
Date of birth	20 June 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth	Gravesend, England
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	94 kg (14 st 11 lb; 207 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	Fly-half, Centre
Senior career
Years	Team
2012–2014	Edinburgh Rugby
2014–2015	Doncaster Knights
2017–2022	Northampton Saints
2022–2023	Bath
2023–	Kurita Water Gush Akishima
	Correct as of 27 June 2022
Provincial / State sides
Years	Team
2011	Auckland
2012	Waikato
2015–	Counties Manukau
	Correct as of 1 June 2017
Super Rugby
Years	Team
2016–2017	Blues
	Correct as of 2 June 2017
International career
Years	Team
2017-2019	England
	Correct as of 17 September 2019

Piers Francis (born 20 June 1990) is an English rugby union footballer who plays in the fly-half and occasionally inside centre position. His current club is Bath in Premiership Rugby, he has previously played for Northampton Saints, the Blues in Super Rugby, Edinburgh & Doncaster Knights.

Career

Francis was born in Gravesend, Kent, attended Kent College, Canterbury and played for Old Gravesendians RFC & Maidstone FC. He was also a member of the Saracens Academy for three years during his teens. He moved to New Zealand at the age of 18 and played ITM Cup rugby for both Auckland and Waikato before returning to the UK in 2012 to sign with Edinburgh.

He spent two years with the Edinburgh outfit, but suffered an injury in the pre-season ahead of the 2013-14 campaign which effectively kept him out of action for the whole season.

He was released in the summer of 2014 along with other fly-halves Harry Leonard and Gregor Hunter.

It was announced in November 2014 that he had signed with RFU Championship side Doncaster Knights, with the contract running until March 2015.

For the remainder of 2015 Francis returned to New Zealand, where he linked with the ITM Cup team Counties Manukau on a two-year deal.^[1] After a strong showing in a Tana Umaga coached side, he followed his coach and signed a deal with the Super Rugby team the Blues for the 2016 Super Rugby season.^[2]

On 20 March 2017, Francis signed to return to England and join Gallagher Premiership club Northampton Saints from the 2017–18 season.^[3] This made him eligible to be picked for England again, and he was subsequently picked for England's 2017 summer tour of Argentina.^[4]