Ruan Pienaar will play his rugby for Ulster next season © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

Springbok Pienaar heading to Ulster

Players/Officials: Ruan Pienaar

Tournaments/Tours: Magners League

Teams: Ireland | Sharks | South Africa | Ulster

South Africa scrum-half Ruan Pienaar will officially become an Ulster player at the start of September after agreeing a release from his Natal Sharks contract.

The 26-year-old Rugby World Cup-winner, who is currently part of the Springboks squad competing in the Tri-Nations, agreed his move to the Ravenhill side back in May. His two-year deal will commence on September 1 although he will be allowed to play for South Africa if selected for their Tri-Nations finale against Australia on September 4, meaning he could miss Ulster's Magners League opener against the Ospreys.

Ulster operations director David Humphreys said, "We're delighted to have concluded the contract negotiations around Ruan's move to Ulster. I would like to thank the Natal Sharks for their help in the matter and for agreeing to Ruan's early release from his Sharks contract.

"We look forward to welcoming Ruan to Belfast in September, he is without doubt one of the biggest signings made in Ulster Rugby's history and I'm confident that he will be a key asset to us both on and off the pitch."

Pienaar, who will join fellow South Africa caps Johann Muller and Pedrie Wannenburg in Belfast, said, "I'm very excited about the change - I have been thinking about going to the Northern Hemisphere for a couple of seasons now and when the opportunity to join Ulster came up I was very interested."