Pienaar happy to hit 50 Ulster caps

Ulster’s South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar will make his 50th appearance for the province when they tackle Scarlets at Ravenhill this evening.

Pienaar is one of eight changes made by coach Mark Anscombe for the Pro12 top-of-the-table clash against the Welsh side who are nine points adrift of Ulster in second place.

Apart from the injured Stephen Ferris (ankle) and skipper Johann Muller (arm), full-back Jared Payne (groin) is also missing while hooker Rory Best is given another week’s rest ahead of the Heineken Cup games at the end of the month and John Afoa is on the bench.