Francois Pienaar
Encyclopedia
Jacobus Francois Pienaar (born 2 January 1967) is a South Africa
n former rugby union
player. He played flanker
for South Africa
(the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps
, all of them as captain. 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.
family, the eldest of four boys. After completing high school in Witbank
, he won an athletic scholarship to the Rand Afrikaans University
, where he studied law.
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.
, 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 played on in extra-time despite a calf strain and the Springboks secured 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 Web 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 movie Invictus
, released in December 2009, which focuses on the story of the 1995 World Cup.
Subsequently, Springbok players were given contracts and the International Rugby Board (IRB) voted in favour of professionalisation. Pienaar was instrumental in negotiating a deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation that turned rugby into a fully-fledged professional game, which had some of the older generation rugby administrators unfairly branding him a traitor for selling out South African rugby to professionalism.
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 England, 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.
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. In the same year, he returned to Cape Town
, South Africa, where he lives with his wife Nerine Winter and two sons, one of whom has 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 Cup 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cup
.
. The 2009 film, Invictus
, is directed by Clint Eastwood
, and stars Freeman as Nelson Mandela
and Matt Damon
as Pienaar.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n former rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player. He played flanker
Flanker (rugby union)
A flanker is a position in the sport of rugby union. Flankers play in the forwards, and are generally classified as either blindside, or openside flankers; numbers six and seven respectively. The name comes from their position in a scrum in which they flank each set of forwards...
for South Africa
South Africa national rugby union team
The South African national rugby union team are 2009 British and Irish Lions Series winners. They are currently ranked as the fourth best team in the IRB World Rankings and were named 2008 World Team of the Year at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.Although South Africa was instrumental...
(the Springboks) from 1993 until 1996, winning 29 international caps
Cap (sport)
In sports, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance on a select team, such as a national team. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football...
, all of them as captain. He is best known for leading South Africa to victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup
1995 Rugby World Cup
The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country....
. After being dropped from the Springbok team in 1996, Pienaar went on to a career with English club Saracens.
Life and career
Pienaar was born in Vereeniging, South Africa into a working-class AfrikanerAfrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
family, the eldest of four boys. After completing high school in Witbank
Witbank
Witbank , also known as eMalahleni is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the eMalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for White Ridge and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested...
, he won an athletic scholarship to the Rand Afrikaans University
Rand Afrikaans University
The Rand Afrikaans University ' was a prominent South African institution of higher education and research that served the greater Johannesburg area and surrounds in from 1967 to 2004...
, where he studied law.
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
Currie Cup
The Currie Cup tournament is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring , featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces...
under his captaincy and he was voted international player of the year by Rugby World magazine.
1995 World Cup
Pienaar is arguably 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 AustraliaAustralia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
, who had not lost a game in the preceding 12 months.
During the tournament, South Africa defeated Australia, Romania
Romania national rugby union team
The Romania national rugby union team , nicknamed The Oaks , is the representative side of Romania in rugby union. Long considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations, they have participated in all six Rugby World Cups, and currently compete in the first division of the...
, Canada
Canada national rugby union team
The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and seven tier two nations, the...
, Western Samoa
Samoa national rugby union team
The Manu Samoa is the men's representative side of the Samoa Rugby Union in both the 15's and the 7's for international competitions. The Samoa Rugby Union is owned by the affiliated rugby unions of Samoa. In Samoa, Manu Samoa is in honour of a famous Samoan warrior. From 1924 to 1997 Samoa was...
and France
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
. They then met New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final at Ellis Park Stadium
Ellis Park Stadium
Ellis Park Stadium, also known because of its sponsorship by The Coca-Cola Company as Coca-Cola Park, is a rugby union and association football stadium in the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It hosted the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was won by the country's...
. Pienaar played on in extra-time despite a calf strain and the Springboks secured a three-point victory with a drop goal from Joel Stransky
Joel Stransky
Joel Theodore Stransky is a former South African rugby union rugby player, most notable for scoring all of South Africa's points, including the famous dramatic winning drop goal, against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. He played as a fly-half.-Early life:Stransky was born in...
.
During the remarkable post-match presentation ceremony Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, wearing a Springbok jersey bearing Pienaar's number, presented him with the Web 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
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
in the movie Invictus
Invictus (film)
Invictus is a 2009 biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World...
, 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 with 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. During this standoff he offered Black Springbok Chester Williams less than other contemporary South African players. In purely marketing terms, Williams was second only to Jonah Lomu.Subsequently, Springbok players were given contracts and the International Rugby Board (IRB) voted in favour of professionalisation. Pienaar was instrumental in negotiating a deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation that turned rugby into a fully-fledged professional game, which had some of the older generation rugby administrators unfairly branding him a traitor for selling out South African rugby to professionalism.
In 1996, Pienaar was controversially dropped from the Springbok side, after 29 caps, by coach Andre Markgraaff
Andre Markgraaff
Andries Thomas "Andre" Markgraaff was a South African rugby union flanker, and controversial national coach, who resigned after he was taped referring to "fucking kaffirs". He was selected for the South African team in 1986 against the Cavaliers but as an unused substitute...
, who accused him of feigning an injury during a match.
Pienaar subsequently left for England, where he became player-coach for Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
-based club Saracens
Saracens F.C.
Saracens are a professional rugby union team based in St. Albans, England – although they play their home games at Vicarage Road, in Watford. They are currently members of the Aviva Premiership, the top level of domestic rugby union in England...
. Under his leadership, they defeated the London Wasps
London Wasps
London Wasps is an English professional rugby union team. The men's first team, which forms London Wasps, was derived from Wasps Football Club who were formed in 1867 at the now defunct Eton and Middlesex Tavern in North London, at the turn of professionalism in 1999...
to win the Pilkington Cup and also finished second in the Zurich Premiership
Guinness Premiership
The English Premiership, also currently known as the Aviva Premiership because of the league's sponsorship by Aviva, is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are twelve clubs in the Premiership...
. During the next two seasons, they secured third and fourth spots in the Zurich Premiership, thereby qualifying for the European Cup
Heineken Cup
The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...
on consecutive campaigns.
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. In the same year, he returned to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa, where he lives with his wife Nerine Winter and two sons, one of whom has Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
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
University of Hertfordshire
The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...
.
Pienaar was also involved in South Africa's failed bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...
in 2005.
He was a pundit for ITV Sport
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer and brand name owned by ITV plc. It was formed from the amalgamation of Granada Sport, Carlton's sports department and ISN, the sports division of London News Network. The company produces Champions League and FA Cup Football, along with coverage of England's national...
during the Rugby World Cup 2007 and 2011 Rugby World Cup
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Africa at a meeting in Dublin on 17 November 2005...
.
Biography and biopic
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 FreemanMorgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
. The 2009 film, Invictus
Invictus (film)
Invictus is a 2009 biographical sports drama film directed by Clint Eastwood starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.The story is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation about the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World...
, is directed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, and stars Freeman as Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
as Pienaar.
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 AfricansSABC3's Great South AfricansGreat South Africans was a South African television series that aired on SABC3 and hosted by Noeleen Maholwana Sangqu and Denis Beckett. In September 2004, thousands of South Africans took part in an informal nationwide poll to determine the "100 Greatest South Africans" of all time...
. - In 2005 he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.
- On 24 October 2011, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of FameIRB Hall of FameThe IRB Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Rugby Board that recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The IRB Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other individuals...
.