The Houston SaberCats signed Hanco Germishuys for the 2023 Major League Rugby season after obtaining the signing rights in the 2022 MLR dispersal draft. The 26-year-old back-row is 6’2″, and 230 lbs.
Hanco played 477 minutes in 12 matches, starting 10, and scored 8 tries for the LA Giltinis in 2022.
Hanco played 940 minutes in 13 matches, 11 as a starter, scoring 5 tries in 2021. He did not have much of a break after the season ended before returning to USA National Team duty.
Hanco joined New York before week three in 2020 and placed one match as a reserve before starting the final two matches of the truncated season.
Hanco played 301 minutes in five matches for the Raptors in 2019. He carried 69 times for 525 meters, made 54 tackles, and had 3 lineout takes with one steal. He also had 2 linebreaks, 8 tackle breaks, and made 2 offloads.
Hanco was born in Kimberly, Northern Cape, South Africa, and attended Newton School. He began playing rugby at a young age and moved to Omaha, Nebraska with his father in 2004. There he attended Westside High School.
Hanco progressed rapidly through the USA Rugby age-grade pathway. He was captain of the Under-18s for Team USA at the Youth Olympics, played for the Under-18s since age 14 for four consecutive years, and the Under-20s in both 2015 and 2016. He was a four-year high school Aall-American.
During the 2014-15 season, he attended Gloucester Academy, played for four weeks in 2015 with the Sharks Academy, and spent the 2015-16 season with the Glendale Raptors in winning the Pacific Rugby Premiership Championship.
In 2016 he played for the Denver Stampede, making nine appearances and scoring six tries. In 2017, it was on to the Austin Huns, where the team won the USA Club Rugby Division 1 National Championship. In 2018 he played with Austin Elite Rugby in the inaugural Major League Rugby season. He made five appearances due to his National team commitment while scoring six tries.
Hanco also played in the Americas Pacific Challenge in 2016, 2017, and 2018 for the USA Selects. He also played in the 2019 Pacific Nations Cup. On February 27, 2016, he made his debut for the Eagles (No. 489) against Brazil and played at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. He has since played with the USA National team and has 29 caps.
In 2019, Hanco returned to Glendale, and in 2020 joined Rugby United New York, before signing with the LA Giltinis for the 2022 MLR season.
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