Jaco Pienaar was announced as Northampton Saints’ scrum coach in June 2025 – joining the men in Black, Green and Gold ahead of the 2025/26 season and boasting an impressive coaching resume with stints in South Africa and Japan during his 21-year career to that point.
Pienaar began his coaching journey in Potchefstroom, spending over a decade developing young talent at North West University and later coaching the Leopards’ Under-19s in South Africa’s Provincial Championship.
A move to the Bulls beckoned in 2015, with Pienaar named Head Coach of the Under-19s team while also leading the University of Pretoria’s ‘Tuks Young Guns’ side in South Africa’s Varsity Rugby competition.
Pienaar then made the step-up into Super Rugby ahead of the 2017 season – joining the Sharks’ senior coaching set-up in Durban as Forwards Coach for four years – before moving to the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ and spending two years at NEC Green Rockets (Abiko) and two years at Suntory Goliath (Tokyo) in Japan Rugby League One.
