Pienaar happy to be top dog at Ulster after Sarries experience

It’s doubtful in their professional careers if any of the Ulster or Saracens players have had to shovel dog pooh off pitches before training, but that was exactly Francois Pienaar’s experience when he first joined the English side.

“When I arrived at Saracens in 1996, at my first training session they gave me a shovel,” the iconic South African World Cup winning captain said.

“I thought it was a joke and someone was filming me. But we were training in a public park and we had to take the dog pooh off the field.”

It’s at least one measure of how far rugby has come in the professional era, and Pienaar believes Ulster have felt the benefits of the increased globalisation of the sport in their quest to claim another European Cup.

“It’s nice to read the South African players are respected in this competition. In South Africa we’re blessed with talent. We’ve got so much of it that comes through that some never get the chance, but the game is now a global game. Players have the chance to look at other countries”

He feels one of them in particular will have Saracens forwards coach Alex Sanderson sweating to come up with a game plan that will negate his influence.

“Ruan Pienaar is so talented. His dad was with us at the 1995 World Cup. He coached the backline and was like Serge Blanco, but you never saw him play because of years of apartheid. Ruan’s got that same X-factor. He’s got that ability to do something special and unusual. So Saracens have to put pressure on him and that starts up front. It starts with the scrummaging and the loose forwards. The ugly stuff is so important in the knockout stages.”

Despite feeling a swell of pride at the impact his countrymen have made at Ulster, he’s backing Saracens and stresses the importance of making a strong start.

“My allegiance is to Saracens. I think it’s going to be the game of the weekend. In knockout games it depends on big match temperament and who’s going to take their opportunities. Normally if the pack dominates, you’ll win. If they don’t, it’ll be a snap of brilliance from some individual that’ll change the game. You don’t want to make a silly mistake early on and have to chase it.”