South African and Ulster scrum-half Ruan Pienaar will play no part in his country’s November tour of the Northern Hemisphere after failing to recover from a knee ligament injury.
Pienaar suffered the injury playing for his country during the Rugby Championship following an accidental collision with a teammate Duane Vermuelen on their way to defeat against New Zealand.
The Springbok management were keen to give Pienaar as much time as possible but it has been revealed today that he has failed to recover sufficiently and has been ruled out of South Africa’s clashes with Ireland, England, Italy and Wales.
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The Ulster number nine will be replaced in the Springbok squad by fiery Toulouse scrum-half Jano Vermaak, who has impressed in the Top 14 this season, but it is Francois Hougaard who is expected to start against Ireland on Saturday.
South Africa take on Ireland in the first game of the Guinness November series at 5:30pm on Saturday in the Aviva Stadium.
