Ruan Pienaar bids farewell in advance of his last ever competitive Ulster match

The South African star has been a hero to the Ulster faithful since his arrival at the Kingspan Stadium back in 2010 and, especially after rejecting a big-money move to then European champions Toulon to stay three years ago, had expected to see out his career here.

After expressing his desire for a new deal following last season's Guinness PRO12 semi-final defeat to Leinster in May, the IRFU, however, swiftly ended such hopes thanks to concerns over a lack of emerging indigenous talent at Pienaar's scrum-half position