Francois Pienaar

Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a retired South African rugby union player. He played flanker for South Africa (the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps, all of them as captain.^[1] He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.

Jacobus Francois Pienaar

Francois Pienaar (left) with Diego Biasi
Birth name	Jacobus Francois Pienaar
Date of birth	(1967-01-02) 2 January 1967 (age 56)
Place of birth	Vereeniging, South Africa
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	108 kg (17 st 0 lb)
University	Rand Afrikaans University
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1997–2000 Saracens 44 (55) Correct as of 2007-12-26 Provincial / State sides Years Team Apps (Points) 1989–1996 Transvaal 100 (()) Correct as of 2007-12-26 National team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1993–1996 South Africa 29 (15) Correct as of 2007-12-26 Teams coached Years Team 2000–2002 Saracens

Early life and education

Pienaar^[a] was born in Vereeniging, South Africa, into a working class Afrikaner family, and is the eldest of four boys. After completing high school at Hoërskool Patriot Witbank, he won an athletic scholarship to the Rand Afrikaans University, where he studied law.

Playing career

He made his provincial debut for Transvaal Province in 1989 before being selected for the South Africa squad in 1993. He was appointed Springbok captain from his first test and remained captain until his last, and remains one of the most successful South African captains of all time.

In 1993 Transvaal won the Super 10, Currie Cup and Lion Cup under Pienaar. In 1994, Transvaal retained the Currie Cup under his captaincy and he was voted international player of the year by Rugby World magazine.

1995 World Cup

Pienaar is most famous for being captain of the first South Africa team to win the World Cup. Prior to the World Cup in 1995, the Springboks were only seeded ninth and were not expected to dethrone the incumbent champions Australia, who had not lost a game in the preceding 12 months.

During the tournament, South Africa defeated Australia, Romania, Canada, Western Samoa, and France. They then met New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final at Ellis Park Stadium. Pienaar led the Springboks to a three-point victory with a drop goal from Joel Stransky.

During the remarkable post-match presentation ceremony Nelson Mandela, wearing a Springbok jersey bearing Pienaar's number, presented him with the Webb Ellis Cup. During his acceptance speech, Pienaar made it clear that the team had won the trophy not just for the 60,000 fans at Ellis Park, but also for all 43,000,000 South Africans.

Pienaar is portrayed by Matt Damon in the film Invictus, released in December 2009, which focuses on the story of the 1995 World Cup.

Later career

Within a month of the World Cup's conclusion Pienaar had a stand-off with SARFU after he led South African players in threatening to join their Australia and New Zealand counterparts to play professionally for the World Rugby Corporation (WRC). Pienaar had convinced numerous Springbok players to sign with the WRC, but Louis Luyt eventually dissuaded them from breaking with the SARFU.^[3] During this standoff, Pienaar offered the black Springbok player Chester Williams less than other contemporary South African players. In purely marketing terms, Williams was second only to Jonah Lomu.^[4]

Subsequently, Springbok players were given contracts and the International Rugby Board (IRB) voted in favour of professionalisation. Pienaar was instrumental in negotiating the deal between SANZAR and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation that turned rugby into a fully-fledged professional game. Some of the older generation rugby administrators branded him a traitor for selling out South African rugby to professionalism.^[5]

In 1996, Pienaar was controversially dropped from the Springbok side, after 29 caps, by coach Andre Markgraaff, who accused him of feigning an injury during a match.

Pienaar subsequently left for Britain, where he became player-coach for Watford-based club Saracens. Under his leadership, they defeated the London Wasps to win the Pilkington Cup and also finished second in the Zurich Premiership. During the next two seasons, they secured third and fourth spots in the Zurich Premiership, thereby qualifying for the European Cup on consecutive campaigns.

Pienaar captained the Barbarians in his only appearance for the club against Leicester at Twickenham in 1999.

Test history

  World Cup Final

No.	Opposition	Result (SA 1st)	Position	Tries	Date	Venue
1.	France	20–20	Flank (c)		26 Jun 1993	Kings Park, Durban
2.	France	17–18	Flank (c)		3 Jul 1993	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
3.	Australia	19–12	Flank (c)		31 Jul 1993	Aussie Stadium (SFG), Sydney
4.	Australia	20–28	Flank (c)		14 Aug 1993	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
5.	Australia	12–19	Flank (c)	1	21 Aug 1993	Aussie Stadium (SFG), Sydney
6.	Argentina	29–26	Flank (c)		6 Nov 1993	Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires
7.	Argentina	52–23	Flank (c)		13 Nov 1993	Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires
8.	England	15–32	Flank (c)		4 Jun 1994	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
9.	England	27–9	Flank (c)		11 Jun 1994	Newlands, Cape Town
10.	New Zealand	9–13	Flank (c)		23 Jul 1994	Athletic Park, Wellington
11.	New Zealand	18–18	Flank (c)		6 Aug 1994	Eden Park, Auckland
12.	Argentina	42–22	Flank (c)		8 Oct 1994	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
13.	Argentina	46–26	Flank (c)		15 Oct 1994	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
14.	Scotland	34–10	Flank (c)		19 Nov 1994	Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15.	Wales	20–12	Flank (c)		26 Nov 1994	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
16.	Samoa	60–8	Flank (c)		13 Apr 1995	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
17.	Australia	27–18	Flank (c)		25 May 1995	Newlands, Cape Town
18.	Canada	20–0	Flank (c)		3 Jun 1995	Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
19.	Samoa	42–14	Flank (c)		10 Jun 1995	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
20.	France	19–15	Flank (c)		17 Jun 1995	Kings Park, Durban
21.	New Zealand	15–12	Flank (c)		24 Jun 1995	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
22.	Wales	40–11	Flank (c)	1	2 Sep 1995	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
23.	Italy	40–21	Number 8 (c)	1	12 Nov 1995	Stadio Olimpico, Rome
24.	England	24–14	Number 8 (c)		18 Nov 1995	Twickenham, London
25.	Fiji	43–18	Flank (c)		2 Jul 1996	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
26.	Australia	16–21	Flank (c)		13 Jul 1996	Aussie Stadium (SFG), Sydney
27.	New Zealand	11–15	Flank (c)		20 Jul 1996	AMI Stadium, Christchurch
28.	Australia	25–19	Flank (c)		3 Aug 1996	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
29.	New Zealand	18–29	Flank (c)		10 Aug 1996	Newlands, Cape Town

Retirement

In 2000, Pienaar retired as a player and became Saracens’ CEO. As a consequence of the club's lack of success during the two following years, Pienaar stepped down as coach and CEO in 2002. Piennar is one of 3 directors of Saracens as of 5/20.^[6]

In 2002 he returned to Cape Town, South Africa, where he lives with his wife Nerine Winter and two sons. Both had Nelson Mandela as a godfather.

Pienaar wrote his autobiography Rainbow Warrior with Edward Griffiths in 1999. In November 2000, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Hertfordshire.

Pienaar was also involved in South Africa's failed bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup in 2005.

He was a pundit for ITV Sport during the Rugby World Cups of 2007, 2011 and 2015.

Depictions in media

Pienaar and Mandela are the subject of a 2008 book by John Carlin, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, that spotlights the role of the 1995 Cup win in post-apartheid South Africa. Carlin sold the film rights to Morgan Freeman.^[7] The 2009 film Invictus,^[8] based on the book, was directed by Clint Eastwood, and starred Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Pienaar.^[7][9]

Awards and honours

• In 1995 he was voted Rugby Personality of the Year by Britain's Rugby Union Writers' Club, as well as Newsmaker of the Year in South Africa.
• In 2004 he was voted 50th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.^[5]
• In 2005 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.
• On 24 October 2011, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame.^[10]

See also

• List of South Africa national rugby union players – Springbok no. 584

Bibliography

• Pienaar, François,^[b] and Edward Griffiths (1999). Rainbow Warrior. London: CollinsWillow. ISBN 978-0-00-218905-7
• Carlin, John (2008). Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-59420-174-5

Notes and references

Notes

1. The progenitor of the Pienaar name in South Africa was a French Huguenot named Jacques Pinard. The spelling was localised as a result of maintaining the French pronunciation.^[2]
2. The cover of the English language book (Written by a British author and published in the UK) uses the French spelling, François, rather than the Afrikaans spelling, Francois.

References

1. "Francois Pienaar | Rugby Union | Players and Officials". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
2. Lugan, Bernard (1996). – Ces Français qui ont fait l'Afrique du Sud. (Translation: The French People Who Made South Africa). – ISBN 978-2-84100-086-9.
3. Francois Pienaar | South African History Online. Sahistory.org.za. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
4. Gallagher, Brendan (28 October 2002). "Williams lifts lid on racism". The Daily Telegraph. London.
5. "Rugby photographic encyclopedia & rugby union player/hero images by sporting-heroes.net". sporting-heroes.net.
6. "SARACENS LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
7. Keller, Bill. – "Entering the Scrum". – The New York Times Book Review. – 17 August 2008.
8. The Human Factor. – IMDb.
9. "When Matt Dawson met Matt Damon and Francois Pienaar". BBC. 1 February 2010.
10. (Press release). International Rugby Board. 26 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.

External links

• "Francois Pienaar". espn.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
• "Francois Pienaar – 1995". bbc.co.uk. 24 September 2003. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
• "Francois Pienaar". bbc.co.uk. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 26 December 2007.
• "Francois Pienaar". rugbyhalloffame.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
• "Francois Pienaar". www.genslin.us/bokke. Retrieved 26 July 2009.

Rugby Union Captain
Preceded by Nick Farr-Jones (Australia)	IRB World Cup winning captain 1995	Succeeded by John Eales (Australia)

Preceded by Jannie Breedt

Springbok Captain 1993–96

Succeeded by Tiaan Strauss