Ruan Pienaar joins Ulster’s to mark 100 caps against Leinster
Pienaar features in a side that shows four changes from the 15 that crashed so disappointingly to Saracens in the Champions Cup last week.
With Director of Rugby Les Kiss prepared to shuffle his side at regular intervals, Iain Henderson moves forward to lock with Robbie Diack drafted in at blindside and Sean Reidy coming in for Chris Henry at openside.
In the front row, Kyle McCall comes in for Callum Black. The only change in the back-line is Peter Nelson wearing the number 15 jersey instead of the benched Louis Ludik.
The 31-year-old Pienaar, who has 88 Springbok caps to his name, again partners Ireland fly-half Paddy Jackson at half-back.
Pienaar will consider staying on to finish his career at the Kingspan, if Ulster want him.
“If Ulster thought I was still good enough and wanted to extend my contract, I would consider it,” said Pienaar, a devout Christian whose family has settled in a leafy part of east Belfast, and who turned down a big-money offer from Toulon two seasons ago.
“I would need to feel I was still playing well and adding value.
“I do not regret turning down Toulon. Staying with Ulster was a decision I made with my heart. I didn’t want to break something that was special to me.
“It might have been nice playing with some of the world’s best players at Toulon but Ulster was somewhere I felt I really needed to be at this stage of my career,” said Pienaar who was naturally disappointed with the result last week.
“We have to get over the Saracens game and put on a good performance away in Dublin. We are still positive because there is a lot to play for.”
Rising star Henderson is not worried about being shuttled around the back five with Kiss naming him in the engine room where he performed so well during the World Cup.
“I am still happy playing wherever. Various players can play a number of positions,. I can cover back row, I can play second and cover back, Robbie Diack can cover both, Roger Wilson can cover at six and eight, we have a load of different combinations and we train with those all the time, so that everyone is just comfortable, because you never know in a game what can happen.
“We saw Rob Herring coming on as flanker at the weekend and of course he made his debut for Ireland at flanker.
“Everyone is always quite open about it, Robbie knows all the second-row positions, I know all the back-row positions, there is so much going on you can never really tie yourself down to one position.
“It’s also beneficial for a team.
“It also improves your all-round game as well and your understanding of it, plays and patterns from not only your own perspective, but from others,” said Henderson who expects a really big challenge tonight against Leinster.
“We are both coming out of the back of losses and each of us know we have something to prove. It’ll be interesting how well the player groups know each other.”
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