Pienaar heads the list for Europe’s golden oldies
In the course of wheeling their way into the Challenge Cup quarter-finals last weekend against the Cheetahs, the Michelin Men of Clermont brought a somewhat anti-climactic end to the longest of careers.
Ruan Pienaar left the European stage on the day he became the first 40-year-old to appear on it, a piece of history which appeared to escape notice beyond the boundaries of his native South Africa. It is a tribute to the ageless Springbok that he has reached a milestone beyond even the longest of all long-distance New Zealanders.
Brad Thorn would have beaten him to it during his one season at Leicester (2014-15) had the Tigers not failed to make the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup. Pienaar, whose father Gysie played full-back for the Boks in all four Tests against Bill Beaumont’s Lions in 1980, has spent half his life, 20 years, as a first-team player for his home-town Cheetahs, the Sharks, Ulster and Montpellier.
The Oldies XV in European action last weekend:
15 Mike Brown (Leicester, 38) 14 Simon Zebo (Munster, 34) 13 Henry Chavancy (Racing, 35) 12 Bundee Aki (Connacht, 34) 11 Sean Maitland (Saracens, 35) 10 Alex Goode (Saracens, 36*) 9 Ruan Pienaar (Cheetahs, 40) 1 Brok Harris (Stormers, 39) 2 Agustin Creevy (Sale Sharks, 39) 3 Stephen Archer (Munster, 36) 4 Kane Douglas (Bordeaux, 35*) 5 Courtney Lawes (Northampton, 35) 6 Deon Fourie (Stormers, 37) 7 Levani Botia (La Rochelle, 35) 8 Uzair Cassiem (Bayonne, 34) * birthday before end of season.