Pienaar, Francois (1967-...), a South African Rugby Union player, became one of the most popular players in the history of the sport. He was an inspirational captain and led South Africa to their home victory in the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup. Pienaar, who played a position called blindside flanker, built a reputation as a committed and hard-working player who leads by example. From the outset of the 1995 World Cup, he showed himself to be a talented ambassador, uniting South Africa behind its team. He said after the final, "We didn't have 63,000 fans behind us today, we had 43 million South Africans."