Ruan Pienaar hopes IRFU ruling won’t deter other foreigners

Ruan Pienaar hopes his treatment by the IRFU won’t put off other foreign imports from moving to Ireland to play rugby.

Ulster’s inspirational leader and scrum-half is being forced to leave Belfast at the end of the season as part of Irish chiefs’ policy of developing home-grown talent. The 32-year-old still finds the decision taken by IRFU’s performance director David Nucifora “a tough one to speak about” and hinted he feels hard done by having contributed so much to Ulster and Irish rugby since his arrival in 2010.

“Because I’ve been here for so long it was disappointing that I couldn’t stay,” he said yesterday.