Nienaber could be missing piece of Leinster puzzle
With World Cup euphoria dying down and attention going back to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, Leinster’s coup in appointing World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber as an assistant to Leo Cullen is likely to turn out to be a masterstroke.
Nienaber surprised many a few months ago with his decision to join Cullen’s side and while many may still wonder why he made the decision, it is clear that he will be a massive boost for Leinster’s hopes in the URC.
Despite dominating the Pro14 league and having a massive say in Europe over the past few years, Leinster have stumbled since the formation of the URC, losing to the Vodacom Bulls in the semifinal in the championship’s opening year and then against eventual champions Munster at the same stage last season.
It is clear that Nienaber’s success with the Springboks will make them stronger and while it is still an open question when exactly he will join the side after basking in the Boks’ success on their recent trophy tour, Nienaber will arrive with a wealth of experience, an intimate knowledge of the Irish game and instantly become a threat to South African franchises with his knowledge of the players and how they work.
In short, Cullen’s decision to appoint Nienaber is a stroke of genius and the envy of the rest of the league, as Nienaber brings so many positives that you can only seeing it making Leinster stronger.
Cullen told media that while there haven’t been specific conversations about Nienaber’s role in the team, they were sure it would sort itself out when he arrives.
“We’ve been in contact a lot in the past few weeks, with Elmarie, his wife, as well. They’re excited about it, it’s a different challenge for them. It’s a nice fit, I feel,” Cullen said.
“Maybe it surprised a few people at the time it was announced seven or eight months ago. But I’m excited about how it all might blend together.
“I’m not quite sure exactly how it is all going to blend together. But we’ll figure it out as we go.”
“We just need to get it right on the day. Not just part of the day, but all of it. That was the initial conversation with Jacques. It’s a bit of that winning mindset.
“Hopefully that will be a big addition for us, for our guys. It’s a different voice for the group and again, it’s just the evolution of our players that have come through the similar-type systems.
“To experience something completely different, a different way of looking at the same game. I think it will hopefully be a positive piece.”
Cullen said that the way the Springboks under Nienaber had embraced the fundamentals of the game impressed him, and he hoped that would rub off on Leinster’s campaign.
“They do things slightly differently. Like there’s beauty in simplicity. The majority of their game, there is a simplicity to the way they play the game. Which is good.
“Because the game has to be based on strong fundamentals and all the rest. There are always little things they will try to push the boundaries on, in terms of law or how they interpret different things. They are a creative bunch and it is a phenomenal success that they have had.”
And Nienaber’s arrival has impressed others, with former Leinster player and current Irish pundit Bernard Jackman singing his praises in his column in the Irish Independent.
“He will add something new to the team on and off the field, and their defence can be better for sure.
“It rarely gets exposed, to be fair, but as teams look to copy others that have beaten them by keeping the ball, it’s important to be even more destructive in defence and to use it as a weapon.
“Nienaber’s system is high-risk, high-reward and he seems to have an exceptional ability to coach it. All the South African teams try and use a similar system, but no one implements it like he does.
“Nienaber’s defence works well in part because the overall game plan is very much aligned with defence.”
Another coach who is incredibly impressed with Nienaber and believes he will have a positive impact is former Munster assistant Jerry Flannery, who with Felix Jones coached alongside Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus during their stint at Munster.
“Felix and I were both very lucky,” he said in a recent interview in The Times. “We really got to learn about the art of coaching from Jacques and then got to see how Rassie operated an environment. Jacques is a phenomenally hard worker.
“Say he’d been scouting the Scarlets, he’d come in with reams of analysis, all organised by proximity to where they win the ball — every single angle off their lineout or scrum attack. But then he would boil it all down into simple messages for the players. He would give them cues to watch — and because he was a qualified physio, he could communicate from the touchline during a game, which was another advantage.
“I hadn’t been enjoying coaching until that point. Maybe my expectations had been too high. In no other industry do you go from zero to executive level. By watching Jacques, I could see how you could make a difference. It was just brilliant the way he simplified things so that players didn’t have to over-think when they were playing, which is great coaching.
“There would be no filler, just the point. Combine that with the fact that they simplified the game anyway. As a coach you can feel like you need to pad things out at times and it muddies the message. When he talked about tackling an opponent, Jacques would just say: ‘I want you to sign your name on his jersey.’ He had been in the military with Rassie.
“He qualified as a physio and then he qualified as an S&C coach, so he was looking at rugby with fresh eyes. That was reflected in the instructions he gave. So many coaches coach in rugby-speak, not just to get to the point quicker but sometimes to sound clever, to say: don’t challenge me on this. Jacques made the message simple, yet it was all based on hours of analysis.”
As the World Cup euphoria starts to die down and the hard work of starting to form a squad to defend the back-to-back titles begins again, embedded in a four-pronged URC challenge, South African teams and supporters will begin to realise how much they have lost.
And how much Leinster has gained in snapping him up.
Comments on RugbyPass
Forget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
164 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
164 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
164 Go to commentsWow, 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.
164 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.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
164 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🏉
164 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
164 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.
164 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
164 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
164 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.
164 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!
164 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.
164 Go to comments