Bowe: Ulster will miss Pienaar
By Daire Walsh
The news South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar would not be allowed to extend his Ulster contract beyond this season came as a huge disappointment to his teammates, Ireland winger Tommy Bowe admits.
The IRFU’s succession policy – which restricts non-Irish qualified players to one per field position across the provinces (excluding Connacht) – means Pienaar, who first joined Ulster in 2010, will be playing outside of Ireland 12 months from now.
Speaking at the launch of the new Subway Breakfast on Dublin’s Pearse Street, Bowe accepted the contractual complexities but stressed the important role Pienaar has played since his arrival.
“We [players] were disappointed with it obviously, more so for Ruan. I think that, as a team, we will miss Ruan. He’s been an excellent part of the squad. We could see that he was upset by the decision, but it’s the nature of the beast,” Bowe remarked.
“We know that’s the sport we play in. We know that people miss out on contracts all the time. There’s people who get settled, and unfortunately have to move on. I think Ruan has shown huge loyalty to Ulster and he’s stayed with us. This is his seventh season. He’s a world class player.”
In enforcing this policy, Bowe accepts the IRFU has the best interests of the national team at heart, and believes that Pienaar’s current understudy – Paul Marshall – is ideally placed to step up to the plate when the Bloemfontein native departs.
“I can see where they’re coming from. They’re trying to look at the national team, which is number one ahead of everything in Ireland. Paul [Marshall] is an excellent player.
“Where he has excelled in the last couple of years is almost being a perfect replacement to Ruan, whenever you are getting to the stage of the game where they might want to mix it up.
“Marshy is a classic electric scrum-half, very nippy, looks for the quick tap-and-go, puts forwards under pressure around the ruck area. From that part of his game, he’s a very exciting player.”
The last 10 months have been particularly difficult for Bowe, as two bouts of surgery on his knee have restricted him to one appearance since he was forced off in Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to Argentina last October.
Following a productive pre-season, Bowe expects to be back on the playing field ahead of Ulster’s Champions Cup campaign, but is aware he will have a fight on his hands to regain a place in Les Kiss’s starting line-up.
“I am at the stage where I want to play because I have spent so much time not playing. I am hungry to play. Whatever else is coming down the line, everybody wants to be involved in the big matches.
“There are derbies, European Cup, so for me to get into the Ulster back-line at the minute with Charles [Piutau] there, whether Jared plays 13 or 15, you have Gillie [Craig Gilroy], Trimby [Andrew Trimble], Jacob [Stockdale], Rob [Lyttle], who has been excellent, so the pressure is mounting more and more.”
As a veteran of two tours (in 2009 and 2013), Bowe looked on with interest as Warren Gatland was once again named as head coach of the British & Irish Lions for next year’s series in New Zealand. The Welsh boss is often seen as a divisive figure on these shores, but the Monaghan man has the height of respect for the way he handled his recovery from a hand injury on the tour of Australia four years ago.
“I’ve been involved in the last two tours, and both times I’ve found him great. For me personally, he was very good to me on the last tour, in the fact that I broke my hand early on in the tour. It looked that I was probably going to be out for two months, but I was told I would be back playing within three weeks.
“For him to take that gamble to kind of keep me in the squad, with the hope that I’d be able to play… fortunately, I was able to play in the last two Test matches. I owe a lot to that. He’s an excellent coach. He’s a very, very good motivator.
“He has a certain way of getting teams revved up for matches, that whenever they hit the pitch, they’re just unleashed.
“I think that going to New Zealand, which is the number one team in the world at the minute, you’re going to need that,” Bowe added.