Francois Pienaar children’s rugby skills clinic

Apr 10 • General News, International • 2185 Views • Comments Off on Francois Pienaar children’s rugby skills clinic

The Road Safety Western Force and Woodside will be hosting a rugby skills clinic with champion former Springbok player Francois Pienaar on Wednesday, 12 April 2017.

The skills clinic will be held at the UWA Rugby Club, McGillivray Oval UWA Sports Park, Brockway Road, Mt Claremont, commencing at 1 pm and concluding at 3 pm.

More than 270 local rugby players aged between 5 – 17 years have registered to participate in the clinic, which highlights the interest in this once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from the 1994 International Rugby Player of the Year.

Francois and the Road Safety Western Force team will be providing expert guidance and tips throughout the afternoon with spectators of all ages offered an opportunity to meet with the 1995 Rugby World Cup winning captain.

Woodside has also invited Francois to Perth to participate in a series of leadership and education events that will explore themes such as diversity and inclusion, high performance and leadership.

If you are interested in interviewing Francois or promoting the skills clinic, please indicate your interest to David Berrie (details below) by no later than Tuesday, 11 April 2017

Francois Pienaar international statistics:

Matches: 29

Points scored: 15

Tries scored: 3

Titles: 1995 World Cup

Awards: 1994 International Rugby Player of the Year

Other domestic titles: 1993 and 1994 Currie Cup (Transvaal) and 1998 Tetley’s Bitter Cup (Saracens).

Francois Pienaar career highlights:

Captained the remarkable Transvaal side who in 1993 played an entire season without a single defeat; they won four competitions including the inaugural Super 10 tournament. To date, no other provincial rugby team has matched this outstanding record.
He went on to play for South Africa, captaining the side in his first match and in every one of his 29 appearances, culminating in the famous victory at the World Cup in 1995. He was acknowledged at that time as an inspiring leader, with an uncompromising approach to commitment. He has won many accolades, which include:
- South African Rugby player of the year 1993
- International Rugby player of the year 1994
- International Rugby Captain of the year 1995
- Rugby personality of the year nominated by the top 20 rugby writers in Britain in 1996 and
- Inducted into the International hall of fame in 2005.
In 1996, he joined the Saracens Club in England and later became the first player/ coach in the game and later the CEO at Saracens. He helped to transform Saracens from an amateur to a very professional rugby club. Under Francois leadership, they won their first ever trophy in 127 years.

Francois was chosen to be the ambassador for Guinness and Visa, the main sponsors during the 1999 and 2004 Rugby World Cups. He was also part of the ITV Rugby World Cup commentary team and was twice nominated by the Royal Television Society for an award as a best sports pundit. He has been the only amateur to receive such a nomination.