Ruan Pienaar: I don’t want to leave Ulster

It looks like an argument that nobody is going to win as Ulster’s South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar is being forced to leave a city he adores, wants to live in, and, oh yes, play a bit of rugby, a game he’s pretty handy at.

The quietly-spoken Pienaar, who has made 118 appearances for Ulster, was also exceptionally keen to help bring to fruition a useful conveyor belt of talent, and saw a future as a possible coach.

But alas, the possibility of settling down permanently in Northern Ireland has been black-balled by the IRFU’s performance director David Nucifora.