Former Natal Sharks team-mate Johann Muller was on hand today to meet his friend and Ulster's new signing who arrived in Belfast from South Africa at lunchtime this afternoon.
Ruan was part of the Springboks Tri Nations Squad this summer until a shoulder injury ruled him out of contention and he'll be assessed by the Ulster medical staff within the next couple of days.
He'll get his first taste of the Ravenhill atmosphere this Friday night when he'll be in the stand to see his new team take on Edinburgh, ko 8.05pm
Ruan is all smiles as he arrives in Belfast
We are getting their block by block, I am getting more and more excited each week as good news continues to come our way. Lets see Marshall and Porter learn from him and psuh each other on as much as possible. I hope Ihumph can work on his defence, because the thought of him and Ruan with pace and vision excites me no end!
C'mon ULSTER
noun "Fan"
an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport,
I'm Not an expert, not always right, I'm just enthusiastic....well most of the time!
SparkyClarky wrote:
We are getting thereBok by Bok, I am getting more and more excited each week as good news continues to come our way. Lets see Marshall and Porter learn from him and psuh each other on as much as possible. I hope Ihumph can work on his defence, because the thought of him and Ruan with pace and vision excites me no end!
Bok by Bok very impressive. Sort of feel sorry for Big Robbie, he is turning into the unsung "Bok" hero these days with all the attention going to his countrymen! Lets hpe they all keep fit and well this season.
As for the Embra game Friday, I predict our first home bonus point of the season!
Try's from Cave, Wannaberg + ANother's
C'Mon ULSTER
noun "Fan"
an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport,
I'm Not an expert, not always right, I'm just enthusiastic....well most of the time!
Good to see the Beeb getting a HT interview with him.
Also great for him to witness 1st hand :-
- Ulster winning and sitting on top of the league
- One of his mates leading the side and clearly enjoying the set up
- the man keeping his shirt warm for him turning in a MOTM display.
If all of that doesn't fire him up and eliminate any chance of complacency then I don't know what will. Hopefully it will see Ulster get the very best out of him.
Bart S wrote:
- the man keeping his shirt warm for him turning in a MOTM display.
Not so sure about that. Going by tonight's interview Ruan is becoming increasing less against playing 10. I've been hard on Marshall, but he had the best game tonight that I have seen from any Ulster halfback. If he keeps going like that, he'll keep the 9 shirt with Ruan at 10.
Mind you, NOC distributed better tonight. Kicking was crap though.
Bart S wrote:
- the man keeping his shirt warm for him turning in a MOTM display.
Not so sure about that. Going by tonight's interview Ruan is becoming increasing less against playing 10. I've been hard on Marshall, but he had the best game tonight that I have seen from any Ulster halfback. If he keeps going like that, he'll keep the 9 shirt with Ruan at 10.
Mind you, NOC distributed better tonight. Kicking was crap though.
To be fair it couldn't have gotten any worse.
Pienaar is here to play 9 and UR know that. Anyway he's hardly going to go out and pi$h of his new employers in the 1st TV interview
Ruan was hired as a 9 because we are not allowed to sign a 10, but once here.....and he is now here....things can change. To me he sounded willing to play 9 or 10 as selected. Or it could be as you say
Snipe Watson wrote:Ruan was hired as a 9 because we are not allowed to sign a 10, but once here.....and he is now here....things can change. To me he sounded willing to play 9 or 10 as selected. Or it could be as you say
If someone did that to me it would seriously pi$h me off. A deal's a deal.
There's no doubt that Pienaar is a better 10 than NOC or iHumph, but I'm getting tired of the media and fans suggesting he play at fly-half. The biggest reason he left South Africa was to re-invent himself as a specialist scrum-half, not as a utility half-back. I think it would be incredibly rude to lure him here on the understanding that he'll play SH, and then pressurise him into OH just because it would be good for us.
Let the guy play in his preferred position, hopefully good performances from Marshall will bring out the best in him. And if you give Ruan the kicking duties, that will allow NOC and iHumph to concentrate on improving their general play.
We don't want to mess the guy around like he has been thus far in his career.
“I have as much authority as the Pope. I just don’t have as many people who believe it.”
Snipe Watson wrote:Ruan was hired as a 9 because we are not allowed to sign a 10, but once here.....and he is now here....things can change. To me he sounded willing to play 9 or 10 as selected. Or it could be as you say
If someone did that to me it would seriously pi$h me off. A deal's a deal.
I'm not saying Ruan should be picked at 10 if he has been promised the 9 shirt as part of the deal. Signing him as a 9 which we were allowed to do, gives us a player who can play 9 & 10.
There was a lot of press talk that he only wanted to play 9. however if, in fact, is happy to play 9 or 10 as his interview suggested....great.
He clearly doesn't want to play 15.
mikerob wrote:Andrew Trimble tweeted: "I love the fact that paul emerick said 'hi francois' when he met ruan pienaar for the first time yesterday!!"
That was what happened mikerob but the full reason being Paul Emerick introduced himself to Pienaar and Pienaar (shyly) replied "Hi". Emerick's reaction to a possible snub was "alright Francois".
