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Another ex-player weighs in on new Jacques Nienaber theory in Ireland

Senior coach Jacques Nienaber during a Leinster Rugby squad training at UCD in Dublin. (Photo By Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Former Ireland wing Andrew Trimble has given his take on the theory that Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber is responsible for Ireland’s decline, describing it as “so funny”.

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In the wake of Ireland’s 36-14 loss to France in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations, the finger of blame was pointed at the former South Africa coach from some corners of the Irish media due to his focus on defence at Leinster, and the knock-on effect that has had on the skillset of the Irish players.

In response to these accusations, Trimble said that pundits and commentators are “scrambling around, trying to find someone to blame,” on the Rugby Rivals podcast this week.

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Trimble was not only dismissive of these claims, but asserted that Ireland may have performed better at the Stade de France had they adopted Nienaber’s aggressive defensive set-up rather than the system Andy Farrell deployed, which shipped a concerning 35 missed tackles.

The 70-cap Ireland international did concede that the contrasting styles at Leinster and Ireland for the players in the squad may have caused “some confusion,” as Ireland will be searching for answers ahead of their round two clash with Italy on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium.

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“It’s so funny, Irish pundits and commentators are scrambling around, trying to find someone to blame,” Trimble said. “If you’re not from Ulster, Jacob Stockdale gets the blame. If you’re from Munster, Sam Prendergast gets the blame. Some people are blaming Jacques Nienaber for Ireland at the weekend.

“It’s so funny. Whatever about the skillset and the catch-pass and everything like that, I suppose maybe disrupting that Irish defence and bringing in something that, I think, is formidable. I think South Africa have shown that if it’s implemented correctly, it’s the best defence in the world – breakdown pressure with line speed, make reads, it’s really difficult, it just strangles opposition.

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“Leinster haven’t quite got there with it, but as a result, there’s a little bit of confusion going back and forth between the Irish camp and the Leinster camp, so many Leinster guys training one way and then playing differently in green. But I think we saw the worst version of it at the weekend. For me, if you just bring in the line speed, shooters, and create that chaos, that chaos plants the seed ‘do I throw this pass? Do I not throw this pass?’ The uncertainty around decision-making with that French attack.

“Garry Ringrose is probably the one guy who shoots up and makes decisions, he’s brave in defence. But he just got one or two reads wrong. He got beaten into that hole by that French attacker. It felt like they didn’t do either well. They didn’t no what they did in the past, that Irish defence, and they didn’t do the Leinster defence. Maybe there’s some confusion.”

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Comments

5 Comments
J
JW 43 days ago

That’s okay — let them keep blaming Jacques (Jacques, take one for SA 😎).

As long as they’re pointing fingers at someone else, they’ll never fix the real problems.

And honestly, as a South African, that suits me just fine.

Keep shifting blame… just don’t expect solutions, idiots.

H
Hammer Head 44 days ago

Uh oh. It’s gone quiet around here…


Ireland may have performed better at the Stade de France had they adopted Nienaber’s aggressive defensive set-up rather than the system Andy Farrell deployed, which shipped a concerning 35 missed tackles.

You might even get the impression that Andy Farrell might be stubbornly resisting building on the Leinster defensive approach?


Eventually the blame will land where it belongs.

f
fl 44 days ago

It did seem very strange to me that Farrell didn’t try to hire Felix Jones when he left England. Maybe he did and it just wasn’t publicised.


Given that Leinster is ultimately accountable to the IRFU, even if Ireland’s form is the fault of Nienaber, you’d have hoped that Farrell and/or his higher ups would have identified that danger and vetoed Nienaber’s appointment back in 2023, or insisted he hire assistants aligned with Farrell’s vision.


Ultimately though, I’m struggling to think anyone is really to blame. When Farrell took over Ireland were ranked 5th in the world with 84.46 ranking points; now they are ranked 5th in the world with 86.81 ranking points. So even their present form is probably better than what Farrell inherited. Over the past 10 years they’ve probably been the 5th best team at the u20 RWC (after France, England, NZ, & SA - in that order) which I think is probably a fair reflection of their player base. So 5th in the world is probably round about where they should be.


The fact that they’ve been so good over the previous few seasons proves Farrell to be one of the best coaches in the world. The fact that they’re less good now is a sad denouement to their golden era, but its basically fine. If they keep slipping then this doom and gloom will make more sense, but its not clear at all that they will.

A
Ace 44 days ago

I’m sure turdlette will bring a unique perspective, not seen by anyone else.

D
DS 44 days ago

Definitely HH. While we're obviously keen to support Jacques anyway, the proof of the pudding IMHO is the Boks’ tackling which - apart from poor old Lood's unfortunate red card - is out of this world and the cream on the top of their defensive superiority. It's a joy to watch and goes back to my playing days when this standing-up concussion-causing nonsense was just a blip on the horizon. Jacques obviously did his bit towards that, and Jerry Flannery has finished it off. The Irish - and other countries’ - teams still need to get their heads around how important it is and their commentators too. Oh, and the Blitzbokke ook.

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