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The message on the Leinster wall Nienaber has already taken to heart
Jacques Nienaber has dived straight into work at Leinster and already put his hand up to take the blame for two of the three tries the Irish province conceded in their hard-fought URC derby win at Connacht last Saturday.
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The former Springboks head coach flew into Dublin last week to begin his new role as senior coach under Leo Cullen, a job he agreed to take on last April before his 2023 international season got going with South Africa and culminated in October’s Rugby World Cup final win over the All Blacks in Paris.
Leinster were left reliant on an 81st-minute try from Ciaran Frawley to snatch a 24-22 victory in Galway from the jaws of defeat. Ahead of next Sunday’s Champions Cup trip to La Rochelle, Nienaber has now given his first media briefing and in explaining how he can’t simply copy and paste the defensive system successfully employed by South Africa, he took responsibility for two of the Connacht tries scored by David Hawkshaw and Diarmuid Kilgallen.
“I can definitely adapt to Leinster,” began the coach who previously worked in Ireland as the Munster defence coach from June 2016 through to November 2017 when he returned home to South Africa with Rassie Erasmus to revive the Springboks.
“I don’t think you can copy and paste the system, any tackle-defence system from one team to another one because what makes the system is the athleticism that you have available within your squad and the skill set you have available within your squad and obviously the skill set and athleticism that South Africa has versus what Leinster have differs.
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
“So you have a general broad way of how you would like to do things but you have to be able to evolve and adapt with the group that you are working with. Currently where I am now is trying to find out what skill set and athleticism we have in the group and how we can utilise it in a system I have got in my head.
“If you just copy and paste you might end up putting certain players in a box when they have a specific skill set and now you put them in a box and they can’t utilise that skill set in a game, so one must be very careful of (not) just going, ‘This is how we are going to do things’.
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“Where it will probably be frustrating for the fans, for the players and for us (as coaches) is evolution comes with sometimes success and sometimes with failure and that’s how you evolve and that’s how you learn what the group will be able to do.
“I read it actually on the wall within this environment. Somebody made a statement that said, ‘Evolution comes sometimes with failure’ and that is where we are currently. We failed in two instances last weekend from a defensive point of view and those failures were probably up to me.
“The first and the last try was definitely due to them [the Leinster players] trying to adapt to a new system and a new way of doing things and it will take them some time to get used to it and it will take me time to get used to them. So no, it won’t be a case of copy and paste. You will have to evolve with the team.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
3 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
3 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments