I was initially introduced to the skills of a young Ruan Pienaar, the son of the renowned Gysie, at the 2002 Craven Week. Together with Bismarck du Plessis and Morne Steyn, two other future Springbok greats, he played scrumhalf for the Free State Cheetahs.
Pienaar, who turned 40 on Sunday, announced his retirement from professional baseball earlier this week, 22 years after he first entered the league. After the SA Cup, which begins on Thursday and runs through the weekend of May 25, he will hang up his boots. The truth is, though, Pienaar merits a more dignified farewell than a local competition of second order that includes the lesser unions in South Africa.
Why? due to the fact that he was among those “generational talents.” In reality, there hasn’t been a rare talent like him in South African rugby, at least not to my memory, which I shall support with statistics. I was impressed by schoolboy Pienaar’s ability to make something out of nothing at all. As a No. 9, he possessed all the necessary skills: kicking, serving, keeping opponents guessing around the margins, defence, you name it. Not to mention his cognitive abilities—the man has excellent anticipation and perception. He possesses a strong “feel” for the game. Pienaar is the only player to have started for the Springboks wearing the No. 9, No. 10, and No. 15 jerseys due to his exceptional talent.
Other Springbok scrumhalves like Grant Williams and Cobus Reinach have also started from the wing, but only a unique player can be relied upon to play all three of those positions.
Naturally, the other outlier at the bottom of the scrum is none other than the renowned Doc Danie Craven. The reason most of us remember him is probably because he has a stadium named after him in Stellenbosch, but the former great rugby administrator was a No. 8 player for the Springboks, as well as an inside centre, scrumhalf, and flyhalf. Further investigation reveals that Mannetjies Michau, a player from 1900, is the only other player to have worn the Springbok No. 9 and 10 jersey. However, whatever.
Craven played the last of his 16 Tests in 1938, so you can see how rare a talent Pienaar is.
To illustrate just how good he is, the 40-year-old is the current Currie Cup Player of the Year – an award he won last week.
That just proves that his talent is not all about motor skills.
Pienaar hangs up his boots with 88 Test matches to his name – the 10th most of all Springboks, having played his last match in the Green and Gold in 2015.
A World Cup winner in 2007, Pienaar started 34 Tests at scrumhalf, seven at flyhalf and four at fullback. It’s a pity he never got to 100, but what a player he is and was nonetheless and here’s to wishing him all the best with life after rugby.
From a player announcing his retirement to a coach that demoted himself.
And here I tip my hat to now-former Blitzboks coach Sandile Ngcobo, who will now take charge of the Academy side instead of the senior team.
I was going to write this column about South Africa’s struggles in Sevens and the coach last week, but midway through Rassie Erasmus made his Siya Kolisi revelation and the game plan changed.
Ook maar goed, because the next day the South African Rugby Union announced a Blitzboks shakeup.
Let me refresh your memory with their press release: “The Springbok Sevens coaching team has been reformatted and a review of the Sevens department’s structure is being undertaken as a response to disappointing results…
“Head coach Sandile Ngcobo has returned to the role of coach to the next generation of sevens players, while Philip Snyman (assistant coach) has taken over as head coach of the Blitzboks until the end of July. The changes were made at the suggestion of Ngcobo…”
It’s the last sentence that has me.
Firstly, if this is indeed the case and not just a behind-the-scenes handshake and an oulike press release to make it appear that the coach made the decision himself, then I tip my hat to Ngcobo for realising that perhaps he’s in over his head.
It begs the question, why does he have to tell his bosses that he will step down, why are we so scared to shake things up in South African sport?
Surely there has to be key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure your performance with on-field results in this case.
Either way, Ngcobo will be better for the experience and I reckon he will be back in the hotseat in years to come.
He had just turned 33 when he was given the job and not being one of the “big” names on the circuit during his playing days for the Blitzboks, he was always going to be up against it at such a young age.
As for the guys at SA Rugby, good luck to another weird appointment in my view in general manager Dave Wessels – the former Force and Rebels coach.
In his own words: “My job will be to offer support and create systems that will ensure sustained success for South Africa’s teams into the future…”
Let’s hope those KPIs are clearly stated…
Sidenote: Aren’t there any guys that have served and worked locally over the last few years that could have taken this job?
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