Jacques Nienaber gives his verdict on Leinster becoming next South Africa after trading World Cup winners for province
JACQUES NIENABER does not expect Leinster to turn into a carbon copy of the South African team that he led so successfully at the World Cup.
Having previously worked as an assistant alongside Rassie Erasmus for the Springboks’ march to glory in 2019, Nienaber was in the head coach role as they retained their RWC title in France at the end of October.
But months before the tournament began, it was already known that he would be replacing Stuart Lancaster in the Leinster coaching staff for this season.
He finally assumed his new position ahead of the narrow URC win over Connacht last Saturday.
Old foes La Rochelle are next up in the Champions Cup on Sunday and, while he was hailed for the work he did with the Springboks’ defence during their back-to-back triumphs, Nienaber pointed out he will be dealing with a very different group of players with Leo Cullen’s side.
He said: “I don’t think you can copy and paste, because the skill set and the athletic ability that the South Africa players had is different to the Leinster players’.
“The athletic profile here is different and the skill sets are different.
“That’s probably the frustrating part for me, to find out where the skill set of this group is and they do have certain skill sets that are better than what we had in South Africa. Some of them have better athletic profiles and vice versa.”
While he will be looking to put his own stamp on the set-up, he added: “It won’t necessarily be the way that we defended with South Africa, or with Munster for that matter. If you look at how we defended with South Africa and with Munster, it wasn’t the same.”
As he referenced, this is not Nienaber’s first time working in Ireland.
Having previously served as Munster’s assistant coach over a period of 16 months beginning in July 2016, Nienaber has worked in tandem with compatriot Erasmus for much of his coaching career.
But family obligations have ultimately led to him opting for a change in career direction.
He said: “The international season this year with the Boks was 13 Test matches.
“But since I left my home in Cape Town to start with the preparation camps and all that, it was six months and a day by the Sunday that I sat in my house and I had a beer with my boy.
“And he said, ‘You know that you have been away for six months and a day?’
“I said, ‘No, I hadn’t realised that’. So it’s only 13 Test matches, but you are never at home.
“Yes, it’s 38 games or 40 games so people would say, ‘Why would you leave 13 games and go to 40 games?’
“My kids are here in Ireland, I’m going to see my wife. We’re going to have dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning I’m going to wake my kids up, which doesn’t happen when you’re in an international environment.
“The currency for success in any coaching environment is time. I just felt l had lost a lot of time with my family.”