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

Ruan Pienaar’s seven-season tenure with Ulster is about to come to an end.

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.

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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

And he posted a farewell message on Ulster Rugby’s Instagram.

#repost @ruan_pienaar9 The week I have been dreading the last few months is here 😥 my last week as an Ulster player. Thank you to everyone that’s made the last seven years so special and memorable!!! Thank you to all the players I played with, management I had the pleasure of working with and especially the supporters #extremelysad #ulstermanforlife #grateful

A post shared by Ulster Rugby (@officialulsterrugby) on May 1, 2017 at 1:11pm PDT