François Pienaar, the Boards.ie Rugby Forum interview

Darragh

There's a couple of things you should always do before an interview - research your facts thoroughly and have the proper equipment and crew ready. If I were to add a third, it would be "be prepared for anything, including delays". That was pretty much a summary of the interview I have below.

I was delighted to get the opportunity to interview Pienaar and even more delighted with the questions that you all submitted - thank you. My interview was set for 1:15pm, I knew the room I'd be doing it in and had someone on hand to give me a help. As you can guess from my tone, things didn't go exactly to plan.

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of those handling Friday, things weren't what I expected. I waited almost two hours for the interview and whn I finally got to do it, had limited time - tho I was never going to be able to ask all the questions I got.

I was in quite an echoey room as you'll hear and finally, though I set the camera to focus on Pienaar only, I find myself in shot - and look like the amateur I am. That too would explain the mistaking Pienaar's sons for daughters... (Ooops!)

How and ever, here, rugby fans and loyal Boards.ie members, is the Rugby Forum's questions to François Pienaar, rugby legend, ex Springbok captain and terribly nice chap altogether. I *did* have to edit it slightly just to get it onto YouTube so the entire video is over at http://blog.boards.ie/2010/02/21/francois-pienaar-interview/.

The interview was a pleasure - despite how little time we had, he was extremely friendly, knowledgeable and humorous. He's obviously very passionate about rugby and about the Springboks and it very much shows.

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAydFAvUR2E

Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXhWdnzfUPs

My thanks to all those who submitted questions and to the lovely people who arranged the interview. Thanks everyone - all constructive commentary and feedback welcome!

Darragh

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Posting to get this to the top.

Thanks Darragh.

miralize

Great interview Darragh!

chupacabra

Thanks a lot Darragh! Delighted you asked the race quota question as its one of the most important issues facing south african sport (not just rugby) today. He seems like a really nice bloke too.

Sherifu

Thanks Darragh.

Co45

Well done Darragh, great interview.

Hyperbullet

Excellent stuff Darragh. Cheers for posting that up. He seems like a sound guy.

stephen_n

Great interview, in both that and the Matt Cooper interview he comes across as a real gentleman, very humble and very honest. Good insight into the game too!

faigs

Good interview well done, just give a cameraman a shout next time...




AHEM!

Africa

Cracking interview, great to see