Francois Hougaard: Worcester sign South Africa scrum-half

Francois Hougaard won the last of his 35 caps for South Africa against Wales in November 2014

Premiership side Worcester Warriors have signed South Africa international scrum-half Francois Hougaard on a deal until the end of the season.

The 27-year-old, who can also play on the wing, has won 35 caps for the Springboks and scored five tries.

"Francois is a livewire scrum-half with enormous experience at the top level," Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan told the club website.

"His signing is a statement of intent of where we are heading as a club."

Hougaard helped the Bulls to successive Super Rugby titles in South Africa in 2009 and 2010, scoring 26 tries in 88 games in the process.

He made his Springboks debut against Italy in 2009 and scored three tries at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

Most recently, Hougaard has been part of the South Africa Sevens side, helping them to the top of the World Sevens Series table.

Worcester's Springbok "pack"

Hougaard joins fellow South Africans GJ van Velze, Wynand Olivier, Nick Schonert, Dean Hammond and recent signing Dewald Potgieter at Sixways.

"After speaking with Dean and close friend Wynand Olivier, Worcester sounds like a fantastic place for any top-end athlete to be and I believe there is a lot to look forward to at the club," said Hougaard.

"Hopefully I can add some experience to the side and we can start pushing our way up the table in this last block of games - I can't wait to play in the Aviva Premiership and am relishing the challenge that lies ahead."

Worcester, two points off the bottom of the Premiership table, may hand Hougaard a debut against Sale on Saturday in place of the injured Jonny Arr and Jean-Baptiste Bruzulier.