Ruan Pienaar playing for the Springboks against Argentina (Steve Haag/Gallo Images)
After 88 Tests for South Africa, 141 caps for Ulster, a combined 104 appearances in all competitions for the Sharks, 28 games for Montpellier and 42 matches since returning home to the Free State to play for his beloved Cheetahs, the last thing anyone would have expected the retiring Ruan Pienaar to say he wouldn’t miss about rugby was the game days on which he collected said caps.
While he’ll miss actually playing, Pienaar – whose last rugby match as a professional in the Cheetahs’ final SA Cup game against Griquas on Friday – confided in his last press conference that he wouldn’t exactly miss the build-up to games.
“I enjoy playing the game itself. Once the whistle goes, then I’m alright,” he began. “But man, I get nervous. Fransie [Steyn] knows from my playing days that from Wednesday onwards I wouldn’t go out.
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