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Jacques Nienaber at Leinster: 'I don’t think they will buy me pints!'
Former Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has given his first media briefing since he arrived in Ireland to start work as the new Leinster senior coach following the departure to Racing 92 of Stuart Lancaster.
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It was October 28 in Paris when Nienaber led South Africa to back-to-back world titles, his team defeating the All Blacks in the final 12-11 at Stade de France.
He has since arrived in Ireland to link up with Leo Cullen’s squad six years after he exited Leinster’s provincial rivals Munster as their defence coach to take up a defence coach role back in South Africa under Rassie Erasmus, the then-head coach who is now their director of rugby.
Nienaber has been straight down to business in Dublin since pitching up on their UCD training ground on November 27.
Following his first match involvement, last Saturday’s away URC win at Connacht, he has now given his first media briefing at Leinster ahead of next weekend’s Investec Champions Cup assignment at La Rochelle, the French team that won the past two finals against Cullen and co.
The South African, who originally struck terms with Leinster last April, turned up on Tuesday evening at their UCD training base HQ for a top-table briefing with Cullen.
Ex-Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has given his first Irish media briefing as senior coach at Leinster. Liam Heagney ?? asked the RugbyPass questions in Dublin. #Leinster #Springboks pic.twitter.com/xkgM28cMdv
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 5, 2023
He was in a jovial mood judging by this following Q&A interlude with RugbyPass as part of a busy 15-minute live content section before he went downstairs for an embargoed session with the written media.
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RugbyPass: Did you know Leo from your time at Munster?
Nienaber: Probably just a greeting when I was here and we spoke over the phone a couple of times when I was with the Boks regarding a player or two, but that’s it.
RugbyPass: With you as senior coach and Leo in charge, is he your new Rassie?
Nienaber: Yeah, we only know each other for a week and I know Rassie for 30 years, so I think eventually we will get to that level.
RugbyPass: You got stuck in straight away last Saturday, regularly issuing messages to be relayed to the players.
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Nienaber: Yeah, straight in the deep end… My English is probably more Russian-English, so it will take them some time to get used to my accent.
RugbyPass: How have you managed to move on so quickly from the Springboks job and do they compare?
Nienaber: I think the pressure that will come with the job and the expectations of Leinster will be similar to what I faced with South Africa. It’s just the whole Leinster environment and I think Leinster is not just an Irish team, there are a lot of people abroad worldwide that support Leinster, so it’s not just the county Leinster. It’s got a big world following. A lot of people look up to Leinster, even in South Africa. Just purely because of the way they conduct themselves on the pitch, the type of rugby they play, a lot of people enjoy it so there will be a lot of pressure from all over.
RugbyPass: What does it feel like to be in the blue of Leinster compared to the red of Munster the last time you worked in Ireland?
Nienaber: I think I will get more flak from the Munster supporters than from the South African supporters. With South African supporters we were open and honest, the move was announced way before the World Cup (in April), and like I said back then it was for personal reasons back then and like I mention now, I honestly think I would lose my family life if I kept on battling away at international rugby. I just feel like I need a little bit of a break from it. But yeah, I don’t know, we’ll probably find out when we go to Thomond Park in a couple of weeks [December 26]. I don’t think they will buy me pints!
Nienaber had begun the briefing by explaining how he was finding the move. “Settling in nicely,” he started in response to a question from RTE, the national broadcaster in Ireland. “I said it this morning at Leinster, I know where to get coffee now in a joking sense of way.
“I’m settling in and everybody over here has been awesome, from the management, the staff and the players. They make you feel welcome and they help you as much as possible, so I’m settling in nicely.”
Why had he made the switch from the Springboks to Leinster? “International rugby is a little bit different in terms of the duration of time that you are away. You only play 13 Test matches but for us, for South Africa, in this World Cup year I was away for six months and one day from my family and away from home and although there are more games that you play for a club, at least you are a little more frequently at home.
“I mean we are playing away this weekend (in France) but I’m at home during the week which is something that international rugby doesn’t give you. You are away and always away, you’re never at home so that is the first thing. I felt I needed a change from international rugby so I needed to get out of international rugby.
“But the bad thing if you get out of international rugby is the demands that the players will place on you, the demands that the staff will place on you, the demands that the supporters will place on you.
“When this opportunity came up with Leinster you get the best of both worlds – you get some more time with your family but you get the environment that will not tolerate mediocrity so as a coach you can’t drop your standards that you have delivered at international level and the players that you work with are international quality so they will make sure that you are on your toes.
“You can’t just spin a story, they will see right through you. That’s actually a nice challenge. The coaching group is massively experienced and the playing group is massively experienced so it was for me from a personal point of view a perfect fit.
“A little bit more family time but from a work perspective a massive challenge and there will be big demands on the job.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the deportation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
156 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
1 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
156 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
1 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
156 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
156 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
156 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
156 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
156 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
156 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
156 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
156 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
156 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
156 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
156 Go to commentsHo hum.
156 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
156 Go to comments