Pienaar to transfer to South Africa for the Summer? BY: RUGBYPICTURE.CO.UK
With the European season coming to an end, rumors are rife in the Twittersphere concerning players returning to South Africa to bring themselves in contention for Rugby World Cup squad selection.
Popular South African blog RuggaWorld has reproduced a report from local paper The Rapport today;
[Rapport] suggested that Ulster scrumhalf, Ruan Pienaar, could well find himself playing in a Bulls or Stormers jersey in as little as two weeks from now. Ulster will play in the Magners League semi-final this weekend and if they lose, Pienaar could be on a plane back to South Africa the very next day.
Just where he will go to is anyone’s guess, but the two franchises mentioned so far are the Stormers and Bulls. This is a result of a phone call from Bok coach, Peter de Villiers, to Pienaar in which he said he would like him to get used to the pace of Super rugby as soon as possible.
Another player De Villiers wants to see back desperately is Frans Steyn.
Steyn too is another who might be back in South Africa sooner rather than later and it is no secret that the Lions have been chasing the player’s signature from Racing Metro for a while now.
I would guess that this has been on the cards for a while and the same sort of arrangement was talked about for BJ Botha a few months ago. There’s not a lot that Ulster can really do without causing damaging friction between themselves and the player and at the end of the day any team manager would want their players to be exposed to rugby at the highest levels.
Provided that Pienaar is well insured by SA Rugby and Ulster have all his contract details in order should the worst possible happen and he gets injured I can’t really see any issues. In fact his participation in the 2011 Tri Nations will add some spice to our coverage of the truncated tournament this summer.
2011 Tri Nations Fixtures.
Saturday, July 23 – Australia v South Africa, Sydney
Saturday, July 30 – New Zealand v South Africa, Wellington
Saturday, August 6 – New Zealand v Australia, Auckland
Saturday, August 13 – South Africa v Australia, Durban
Saturday, August 20 – South Africa v New Zealand, Port Elizabeth
Saturday, August 27 – Australia v New Zealand, Brisbane
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8 Responses to “Pienaar to Stormers?”
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That man will be knackered by the time he gets back here!
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I don’t know if the Stormers bit will happen – maybe a couple of matches before the tri-nations but I can’t see him playing before the end of June so Idon’t think his schedule will be much worse than any of our Ireland World cup players.
However, Pienaar always seems to just glide through matches without overreaching himself. If he had a more physical game instead of his graceful one I’d be more concerned.
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This is not the Boys Brigade, Pienaar has a two year contract, the chances of him renewing are slim, so I would tell De Villiers, possibly the worst international coach after Matt Williams, to Bok Off !
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If anything I’d rather see him back for the Sharks. Pienaar in blue is too ghastly to contemplate
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As a Sharks fan who would you least like him to go to?
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I think Stormers.
With the new S15 format it is all about ensuring that the local opposition has less points.
Cheetahs and Lions are not really the play-offs contenders and on his own Pienaar would not be able to win them matches. Even though with Butch James (who is now with the Lions) they were a formidable combo.
Bulls have Fourie Du Preez so unlikely Pienaar would get a start ahead of Du Preez, hence not much impact.
The Stormers on the other hand have a very good team and a very good scrummmie could be a missing piece of the puzzle that could just take them to a different level. Hence – danger.
Frankly speaking I think the Sharks need him back.
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Thanks for that rekinek – interesting analysis.
I’m in two minds about this Pienaar thing but I can’t see it happening other than he might train with one of the local sides prior to the Tri Nations. I’d also be surprised if the S15 Comp just let teams parachute players in mid competion.
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They actually do – sometimes. The infamous Epi Taione that played 2 games for the Sharks in 2008.
He missed the beginning of the season as he played in Japan then gets a red card and couple weeks ban in his first game and then out of the blue the coach decides to play him in the semis, in which he looks super rusty and contributes to the defeat.
Though it would be different in case of Pienaar. Both Bulls and Stormers are laden with Springboks and Pienaar played with those guys before.
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