African players in threatening to join their Australia and New Zealand counterparts to play professionally for the World Rugby Corporation (WRC). Pienaar had convinced numerous Springbok players to sign with the WRC, but Louis Luyt eventually dissuaded them from breaking with the SARFU. During this standoff, Pienaar offered the black Springbok player Chester Williams less than other contemporary South African players. In purely marketing terms, Williams was second only to Jonah Lomu. Subsequently, Springbok players were given contracts and the International Rugby Board (IRB) voted in favour of professionalisation. Pienaar was instrumental in negotiating the deal between SANZAR and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation that turned rugby into a fully-fledged professional game. Some of the older generation rugby administrators branded him a traitor for selling out South African rugby to professionalism. In 1996, Pienaar was controversially dropped from the Springbok side, after 29 caps, by coach Andre Markgraaff, who accused him of feigning an injury during a match. Pienaar subsequently left for Britain, where he became player-coach for Watford-based club Saracens. Under his leadership, they defeated the London Wasps to win the Pilkington Cup and also finished second in the Zurich Premiership. During the next two seasons, they secured third and fourth spots in the Zurich Premiership, thereby qualifying for the European Cup on consecutive campaigns. Pienaar captained the Barbarians in his only appearance for the club against Leicester at Twickenham in 1999. Test history World Cup Final Retirement In 2000, Pienaar retired as a player and became Saracens’ CEO. As a consequence of the club's lack of success during the two following years, Pienaar stepped down as coach and CEO in 2002. Piennar is one of 3 directors of Saracens as of 5/20. In 2002 he returned to Cape Town, South Africa, where he lives with his wife Nerine Winter and two sons. Both had Nelson Mandela as a godfather. Pienaar wrote his autobiography Rainbow Warrior with Edward Griffiths in 1999. In November 2000, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Hertfordshire. Pienaar was also involved in South Africa's failed bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup in 2005. He was a pundit for ITV Sport during the Rugby World Cups of 2007, 2011 and 2015. Depictions in media Pienaar and Mandela are the subject of a 2008 book by John Carlin, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, that spotlights