Pienaar badly missed

If there is one person Ulster have missed more than any other during an injury-plagued 2014, it has been their cultured scrum-half Ruan Pienaar.

Sidelined for 12 weeks with a knee injury, Pienaar’s absence was sorely missed, particularly in the opening couple of games in Europe when Ulster crashed to two defeats and virtually ended their campaign.

The Bloemfontein-born scrum-half with 80 appearances for South Africa under his belt, is now in the vanguard to help Ulster finally grab a little bit of silverware in the shape of the Guinness Pro12 League title.