Ruan Pienaar: 'You are going to miss the quality time you had with your family'

Springbok veteran and father of three Ruan Pienaar has had to retool himself during the Covid-19 lockdown.

He doesn’t have a kicking tee in sight. “I spend most of my time with a broom and a mop. I have three kids in the house and you continually have to clean up after them‚” said Pienaar.

His daughters aged eight‚ five and two don’t yet fully comprehend why their dad‚ who spends an inordinate amount of time on the road during the Pro14‚ is home all the time.

“It is difficult for them to understand why we can’t go out. But we have survived so far – no one has killed another‚” Pienaar chuckled.

He admits it is getting harder for him too. “The first two weeks were okay but now I’m getting a little itchy. It’s getting difficult because you get bored and the days are getting longer but we all know it is for a good goal.

Thankfully‚ though‚ his fitness routines takes up a fair chunk of his time.

“You try and do fitness drills in the morning and the afternoon. I’ve got a gym bike in the lounge and my property is big enough to do some running drills. I also do body weight stuff involving push-ups and pull-ups.

“You have to innovate. I Google a lot of stuff to see what works best but our fitness trainer also gave us a programme that he wants us to follow.

“The guys also exchange a lot of training-related stuff via WhatsApp. That’s how we keep busy‚” he said.

However‚ the 36-year old who played in 88 Tests is unable to finetune those box kicks that used to divide Springbok fans. He has resisted the temptation to kick the ball with pinpoint precision over his house.

“I have a trampoline into which I kick but I don’t do a lot of it. It’s difficult to replicate proper kicking drills without the space.”

Pienaar says he misses his teammates and the pranks they pull. “I also miss dropping the kids at school.

“I think once this is over we are going to say‚ ‘It wasn’t so bad’. You are going to miss the quality time you had with your family.”

The scrumhalf who returned to Bloemfontein last year is in the twilight of his career. He is supposed to hang up his boots next season but his current inactivity isn’t filling him with angst.

“I suppose there are two ways of looking at it. It could eat into the little time you have left or it could prolong your career because our bodies and our heads are recovering.

“I haven’t really thought about it. I think everyone is looking forward to get back to normal life‚ although‚ life will probably never be the same again.”