Ruan Pienaar poised for return to Irish Rugby

Former Ulster scrum-half Ruan Pienaar may be set for a return to the province next year as an assistant coach.

Pienaar enjoyed an incredible season with Montpellier in French Rugby and garnered serious consideration for South Africa's upcoming summer Test series against England next month. According to South African sportswriter Mark Keohane, South Africa Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus reached out to Pienaar to see if he would be interested in playing for the Springboks this summer only to be told he was not available as he is set to take up a coaching role with Ulster next year. https://twitter.com/mark_keohane/status/1000133339989401600 Ulster could be without a head coach until January of next year if Scottish Rugby fail to grant Dan McFarland an early release from his contract with the union so the arrival of Pienaar would be a welcomed and timely addition to the province's coaching ranks. Elsewhere centre Jared Payne is poised to become the province's defence coach after spending this season orchestrating Ulster's defence under Jono Gibbes. Gibbes announced in March that he would be leaving the club to return to New Zealand for family reasons, however, the 41-year-old held talks with La Rochelle last week about the club's vacant coaching role. Gibbes said that his primary focus was on a long haul flight to New Zealand with his three kids when he was asked about speculation linking him to the French club but he did acknowledge that a return to the northern hemisphere is a possibility. "To be honest I have a got 35-hour travel day coming up with three young kids so that is what needs to be dealt with," said Gibbes. "Not sure if you have done that with three kids to NZ. It is pretty traumatic." He continued: "Next season, I don't know categorically the answer to that. "To be fair, I just wanted to do my part here the best I can and pay back the support I've had from Ulster, the people in the organisation who have backed me up. "Some people won't know all of them, Davy Miller at an executive level, I've been treated really well, supported really well. "There have been massive challenges on and off the field but I do believe there's enough of the right people here to take it forward. That story is going to start with Dan, he's a good man. The start date is still to be worked through but I think he's going to add massive value."