Tiny Francis

Murray Godfred "Tiny" Francis (26 August 1907 – 2 August 1961) was a South African rugby union player, first-class cricketer and hockey player.^[1][2]

Tiny Francis

Birth name	Murray Godfred Francis
Date of birth	(1907-08-26)26 August 1907
Place of birth	Bloemfontein, Orange River Colony
Date of death	2 August 1961(1961-08-02) (aged 53)
Place of death	Bloemfontein, South Africa
School	Kingswood College, Grahamstown
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flyhalf Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) Old Collegians () Gardens RFC () Hamiltons RFC () Ramblers RC, Bloemfontein () Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1926–31, 36–38 Free State 60+ () International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1931–32 South Africa (tour) 8 (18)
Cricket information
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1925/26–1945/46	Orange Free State
1934/35	Western Province
Source: Cricinfo

Rugby union career

Francis was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa and educated at Kingswood College in Grahamstown. He represented the Free State at provincial level from 1926 to 1931 and then again from 1936 to 1938, gaining over 60 caps for his province. He also represented Northern Province for the All Blacks tour of South Africa in 1928 and again against the British touring side of 1938.^{[citation needed]} During the period 1932 to 1936, he spent in Cape Town, where he played club rugby for Gardens and Hamiltons.^[3]

Francis toured with the Springboks to Britain and Ireland in 1931.^[4] He was the understudy to the team captain, Bennie Osler and did not play in any test matches, but did play in 8 tour matches. He scored 18 points for the Springboks during the tour, which included 1 try, 4 conversions, 1 penalty goal and 1 drop goal.^[1]

Cricket career

Francis played first-class cricket for Orange Free State and Western Province.^[5] He played 29 first-class matches and scored 1747 runs at an average of 35.65, with a high score of 125. He also took 18 wickets with a best of 5/50.^[2]

See also

• List of South Africa national rugby union players – Springbok no. 218