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Francois Pienaar

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Francois Pienaar
Pienaar in 2017
BornJacobus Francois Pienaar
(1967-01-02) 2 January 1967 (age 59)
Vereeniging, Transvaal, South Africa
Height1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight108 kg (17 st 0 lb)
UniversityRand Afrikaans University
Rugby union career
Position 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
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1993–1996 South Africa 29 (15)
Correct as of 2007-12-26
Coaching career
Years Team
2000–2002 Saracens

Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a South African retired 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.

Early life and education

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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

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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

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Pienaar is most famous for being captain of the first South African 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.[3]

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.[4]

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

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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.[5] 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.[6]

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.[7]

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

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  World Cup final

No.OppositionResult (SA 1st)PositionTriesDateVenue
1. France20–20Flank (c)26 Jun 1993Kings Park, Durban
2. France17–18Flank (c)3 Jul 1993Ellis Park, Johannesburg
3. Australia19–12Flank (c)31 Jul 1993Sydney Football Stadium (SFG), Sydney
4. Australia20–28Flank (c)14 Aug 1993Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
5. Australia12–19Flank (c)121 Aug 1993Sydney Football Stadium (SFG), Sydney
6. Argentina29–26Flank (c)6 Nov 1993Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires
7. Argentina52–23Flank (c)13 Nov 1993Ferro Carril Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires
8. England15–32Flank (c)4 Jun 1994Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
9. England27–9Flank (c)11 Jun 1994Newlands, Cape Town
10. New Zealand9–13Flank (c)23 Jul 1994Athletic Park, Wellington
11. New Zealand18–18Flank (c)6 Aug 1994Eden Park, Auckland
12. Argentina42–22Flank (c)8 Oct 1994Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
13. Argentina46–26Flank (c)15 Oct 1994Ellis Park, Johannesburg
14. Scotland34–10Flank (c)19 Nov 1994Murrayfield, Edinburgh
15. Wales20–12Flank (c)26 Nov 1994Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
16. Samoa60–8Flank (c)13 Apr 1995Ellis Park, Johannesburg
17. Australia27–18Flank (c)25 May 1995Newlands, Cape Town
18. Canada20–0Flank (c)3 Jun 1995Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth
19. Samoa42–14Flank (c)10 Jun 1995Ellis Park, Johannesburg
20. France19–15Flank (c)17 Jun 1995Kings Park, Durban
21. New Zealand15–12Flank (c)24 Jun 1995Ellis Park, Johannesburg
22. Wales40–11Flank (c)12 Sep 1995Ellis Park, Johannesburg
23. Italy40–21Number 8 (c)112 Nov 1995Stadio Olimpico, Rome
24. England24–14Number 8 (c)18 Nov 1995Twickenham, London
25. Fiji43–18Flank (c)2 Jul 1996Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
26. Australia16–21Flank (c)13 Jul 1996Aussie Stadium (SFG), Sydney
27. New Zealand11–15Flank (c)20 Jul 1996AMI Stadium, Christchurch
28. Australia25–19Flank (c)3 Aug 1996Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
29. New Zealand18–29Flank (c)10 Aug 1996Newlands, Cape Town

Retirement

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Pienaar retired as a player in 2000, 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. Pienaar is one of five directors of Saracens as of August 2025.[8] He returned to Cape Town, South Africa in 2002, where he lives with his wife, Nerine Winter, and two sons, who both had Nelson Mandela as a godfather.[9]

He wrote his autobiography Rainbow Warrior with Edward Griffiths in 1999, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Hertfordshire in November 2000.[10][11]

He was involved in South Africa's unsuccessful bid in 2005 to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup.[11] He served as a colour commentator for ITV Sport during the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups.[12]

Depictions in media

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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.[13] Invictus, the 2009 film based on the book, starred Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Pienaar, and was directed by Clint Eastwood.[13][14]

Awards and honours

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  • 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.[7]
  • 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.[15]

See also

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Bibliography

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  • 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

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Notes

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  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

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  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. ↑ Ray, Craig (23 June 2025). "From the Archives: Rugby World Cup 1995: Madiba and Francois Pienaar give hope to the New South Africa". Daily Maverick. Archived from the original on 23 June 2025. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  4. ↑ James, Dylan (26 January 2023). "The 'greatest one-liner in World Cup history' becomes social media hit". Wales Online. Retrieved 19 July 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ Francois Pienaar | South African History Online. Sahistory.org.za. Retrieved on 5 November 2015.
  6. ↑ Gallagher, Brendan (28 October 2002). "Williams lifts lid on racism". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 January 2010.
  7. 1 2 "Rugby photographic encyclopedia & rugby union player/hero images by sporting-heroes.net". sporting-heroes.net.
  8. ↑ "SARACENS LIMITED - Officers (free information from Companies House)". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  9. ↑ Smith, David (8 December 2013). "Mandela and the rugby hero who rejected the prejudices of a white childhood". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 December 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Francois Pienaar - Keynote Speaker | London Speaker Bureau". London Speaker Bureau. Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  11. 1 2 "Francois Pienaar | South African History Online". sahistory.org.za. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Francois Pienaar | One Young World". www.oneyoungworld.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2026. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  13. 1 2 Keller, Bill. – "Entering the Scrum". – The New York Times Book Review. – 17 August 2008.
  14. ↑ "When Matt Dawson met Matt Damon and Francois Pienaar". BBC. 1 February 2010. Archived from the original on 4 February 2010.
  15. ↑ "RWC legends inducted into IRB Hall of Fame" (Press release). International Rugby Board. 26 October 2011. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
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