Ben Pienaar (born 10 September 1986) is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player for London Welsh in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

, having formerly played for

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

in the

.Ben Pienaar
at Leicester Tigers profiles online (accessed 12 April 2009) Born in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, Pienaar previously played for Langley School, Loddon before moving to

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

and for England Schools, He represented

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

from U-14s to U-16s, then was capped by England at U-16 and U-19 level. Outside rugby, Pienaar is also a past Junior National Champion at

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

. Following injury and suspension of the more established number eights at Tigers, Pienaar had an opportunity for a run in the first team earning the praise of the coaches in the process. Pienaar was added to Tigers

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

squad for the knock-out stages of the 2008–09 competition.

References

External links

Leicester profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pienaar, Ben 1986 births Living people South African rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Moseley Rugby Football Club players People educated at Gresham's School People educated at Langley School, Loddon Rugby union players from the Free State (province)