Pienaar’s chance to shine
20 Jul 2011
JON CARDINELLI writes that strong performances in the next two matches will ensure that Ruan Pienaar travels to the World Cup as more than just a utility player.
The final trial. This is how several World Cup hopefuls will view the Tri-Nations tournament. There’s little chance of a Springbok B side travelling to Australasia and knocking over the hosts, but there’s a good chance that those in contention for the World Cup will sway the selectors through a couple of impressive showings.
Peter de Villiers hasn’t picked a side that can win in Sydney or Wellington, but he has selected a group of individuals that will be determined to prove a point. It was much the same in 2009 when the dirt-trackers played Leicester and Saracens. Synergy was a problem and ultimately cost those South African teams, but there were a few individuals that made a statement.
Pienaar must be eyeing the upcoming matches as a springboard to World Cup selection. Indeed he would prove a valuable asset given his ability to play more than one position, but he will want to make full use of this opportunity to convince the Bok management that he’s a quality alternative to Du Preez.
A move to Ulster in September 2010 seemed to signal the end of his Test career. At the time, Pienaar told me that he was fed up with being viewed as a jack of all trades and a master of none, and that playing for Ulster would afford him more opportunities in his preferred position.
Little did he know that two months later he would be representing the Boks on their tour of the home nations, and starting at No 9.
Injuries to Du Preez and Ricky Januarie forced the Bok selectors to think outside the box, and the fact that Pienaar was already playing in Europe counted in his favour. Francois Hougaard hadn’t done badly in the 2010 Tri-Nations, but De Villiers and company recognised the need to pick a scrumhalf with a skill set suited to northern hemisphere conditions.
Pienaar played a big part in all three of the Boks’ tour wins and De Villiers later admitted that he should have started him against Scotland. After a disappointing Tri-Nations where the Boks tried to force Hougaard and Januarie to fit the Du Preez mould, they had found a like-for-like replacement in Pienaar.
Du Preez will be one of the most important players at the World Cup, but the Boks need somebody in reserve that can offer the same sort of tactical options. Pienaar’s distribution and decision-making will lend the Boks’ impetus on attack, while his formidable kicking game will be useful in the context of the Bok game plan.
In theory, Pienaar is a similar player to Du Preez and would prove a perfect understudy at the World Cup. But there are many people out there, De Villiers included, who may need further convincing. Saturday’s game against the Wallabies represents the first of two final opportunities to convert the doubters.
The odds are certainly against the 27-year-old. The Boks took a pounding at the collisions in last year’s away Test against Australia, and on that occasion, Pienaar was the man in the No 9 jersey. He struggled behind a losing pack on that occasion, and is unlikely to receive a much better platform when a mix-and-match pack fronts the Wallabies this weekend.
Regardless of the pressure, he needs to show the selectors that he had the necessary composure and decision-making ability to be an asset to the Boks. South Africa may lose the next two Tests, but through his individual performances, Pienaar can win.
It seems unfair to judge Pienaar in this situation just as it was unfair to judge him when his forwards were pummelled last year in Brisbane. But given that it’s the only real opportunity he will receive prior to the World Cup, he will need to make it count.
65 Comments
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20 Jul 2011, 12:39 pm
John Smit’s leadership is essential for winning a WC
Defense is going to win us the Cup
Butch’s defense has opposition flyhalves shivering in their boots
Frans Steyn’s aura has opposition sides baffled
M Steyn’s goal kicking is the best in the world
Vic’s presence means our lineout is untouchable
Bakkies is our best enforcer
Brussouw is going to win loads of ball on the ground
FDP is the best scrummie in world rugby
Spies will find form
Habana will save his best for the WC
Rassie’s presence is going to make a huge difference to the game plan
All these assumptions are not based on anything that we have seen consistently in recent rugby matches, but rather on lines of jargon thrown at us by the media. Some have gobbled it up and are building their hopes around it because they have accepted these opinions as irrevocable facts.
The main problem with these assumptions is that is does not take into account recent form, as said above, but more importantly, it does not take into account the evolution of the game over the last 24 months. I cannot help but feel that there is a rude awakening on the horizon.
20 Jul 2011, 12:40 pm
@Bod(bod)-50:
dagga?
i’d say it 420 time
20 Jul 2011, 13:23 pm
Pienaar lacks one crutial competancy. BMT! He does well when there is nothing to loose, but can’t force a win when it counts. He will always be a good provincial player but does not have what it takes to rise to international greatness.
20 Jul 2011, 13:25 pm
@Couchcoach(GI POT)-49: The bloke comes back from a LONG lay-off and needs to time to find form again. The BEST number 9 we ever produced and you write him off already? No mate- that’s fickle- he is NOT over the wall by a LONG way.
20 Jul 2011, 13:28 pm
@Beast(Beast)-53: he is still second best to FDP- I think your logic about BMT can be better used to describe Hougaard at 9. It’s sad that we don’t really have anyone world-class beyond FDP.
20 Jul 2011, 13:32 pm
Pienaar is on a hiding to nothing behind that pack, as good as he is I would be surprised if he shone.
20 Jul 2011, 13:38 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-56: Yeah it’s kinda like they are setting him up to fail (once again). Behind the pack picked for Sat- it WILL get marched promptly backwards. DR at 7? Johan Muller?? Stegman?? Helz Bells! Johnson will be found wanting at international level in the same mould as meisiekind. It’s going to be a long game come Sat and lots of crying into my beer
20 Jul 2011, 13:44 pm
@bangkok-bok(bangkok-bok)-55: Yip, Hougaard is still a bit of a loose canon. When he comes off, he does brilliantly, but when he backfires its a gemors! The Boks generally do well with big strong scrumhalfs, but the current crop of candidates are all too small and predictable. None of them take pressure of the flyhalf.
20 Jul 2011, 13:48 pm
@Beast(Beast)-58: Come to think of it you are very right- the current/recent crop of scrummies are small: think: Kockott, Mcleod, Duvenhage, Sarel, Vermaak, Cronje (sharks), Adams, the new VC Bulls scrummie, the one that plays for WP now etc etc.
I had an odd thought the other day- Habana began as a number 9- I wonder how he would have done, had he continued playing at 9 his entire career. It may have suited that explosive style he once had.
20 Jul 2011, 13:50 pm
Pienaar made a notable difference when he replaced Januarie against Australia last year.
An energizing impact, if you wish.
Even Olivier looked world-class in that last stanza.
Boks will take it.
20 Jul 2011, 13:54 pm
Nonsense JC
Ruan Pienaar doesn’t force himself on anyone and doesn’t need to prove anything
FdP confiscates the Test for himself with his slower service and untimely box kicks as we witnessed lately while Hougaard is Mr. Mayhem himself.
Pienaar is the only scrummie at test level who managed to get the Boks forwards into more than 2 phases and his exceptional athletism behind the rucks and scrums makes him very dangerous indeed.
Bring on Januarie!
20 Jul 2011, 15:02 pm
@Griqua_warrior(willievz)-60:
Take what?
21 Jul 2011, 00:01 am
To put RP in the media spotlight like this is equivalent to stressing the fragile one.
Do not be surprised to reap the ill winds of such pressure.
Lambie should regard the bench as a safe haven as he will for quite some time not be one of the lambs being led to the slaughter.
21 Jul 2011, 00:52 am
I see the AB’s are playing a second string team against the Fijians……….unjuries? Rest and rotation? Arrogance? or just thumbing a nose at TV audiences?
21 Jul 2011, 05:32 am
@whatever(whatever)-64:
Well seen as the Crusader boys were constantly on the road all super 15.
And seen as thr SA boys had an early exit out of Super 15 probably reasons why the few ABs are missing. I dont care what AB team plays as long as we win, i like winning,how about you?
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