Jacques Nienaber highlights ‘only positive’ from Leinster’s ‘difficult’ season and addresses reports a ‘very competent player’ is signing for Connacht
Jacques Nienaber, inset, has been talking about Leinster's inconsistencies and reports that Ciaran Frawley is poised to leave
Rugby World Cup winning Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber has given his verdict on this season’s inconsistencies with Leinster and has had his say on media reports linking Ciaran Frawley with a move to Connacht.
Despite winning their last five league and cup matches after a poor start that featured three defeats in four games, the reigning United Rugby Championship champions have yet to fully impress in 2025/26.
For instance, they had to come from behind at the break to defeat Ulster and Leicester in their two most recent matches, and it is feared that the recurring inconsistencies in their displays will eventually cost them at the business end of the season.
Leinster’s next game is at Munster next Saturday and having already been beaten at home by Clayton McMillan’s side, how the fare in Limerick is being viewed as an important stepping stone if they are to fans believing they still have what it takes or whether their downturn in performance is a sign that there is something more seriously wrong with them other than a post-British and Irish Lions tour hangover.
“It’s not one of those seasons for us…”
Leo Cullen’s side dominated Andy Farrell’s squad selection for the tour of Australia, but the consequence of that level of representation is that Leinster have been lacking in cohesion across their season with numerous star players struggling for form.
It’s a situation that South African Nienaber didn’t shy away from when addressing the media ahead of Saturday’s URC trip to Thomond Park. Asked if their current struggles were a purposeful way to ensure they will hit their peak in the closing months of the season in knockout league and cup matches, the senior Leinster coach said: “Let me tell you it’s not a plan, I can guarantee you.
“As a coach you would love it to go plain sailing, you would love to win every game with 50 points and sit there in the box at half-time and the game is in the bag because it is good for the heart and it is good for the nerves and the nails, but it is not one of those seasons for us.
“We make it difficult for ourselves. As a team we create opportunities but we kind of find a way to almost stuff them up, if I can put it like that. Two weekends ago against Leicester, where Tommy (O’Brien) scored, it was brought back for offside from Robbie (Henshaw) which is the right call but a tight one. Then we score a try and we go back for a neck roll, which is all legitimate calls.
“So that is almost the thing; we are currently finding a way in the club to make it difficult for ourselves, so we are creating the opportunities, but we haven’t nailed them and partly due to our own inaccuracies and our own ill-discipline.
“So the challenge for us as a club and as a team is to keep on working hard creating the opportunities but lads, let’s get more accurate and disciplined when it comes to nailing those opportunities.
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“Because especially this weekend when you play a quality team like Munster and last weekend against Ulster and the (other) games we are playing, Connacht in the next inter-pro (in the new year), you won’t always get an opportunity to get back into the game. Like Munster at Croke Park, they got a handy lead and you don’t get into the game again.
“First of all, we need to focus and fix that, be more accurate, more disciplined but keep working hard and creating opportunities we are currently creating. And secondly, you have to give credit to the teams. You have to give credit to Ulster. If you give them the opportunity, they take it.
“And if you play against Munster in Croke Park when we gave them the opportunity, a poor pass selection, maybe a poor decision, they punish you with seven points, so you have to give credit to the opposition as well.
“I would say the only positive out of it is that we have to find ways to grind wins out. So to go in 17-7 down at half-time against a quality Ulster team that is well coached, well drilled, that had a great game plan. It was 17-7 up until 53 minutes, so to find a way to get yourself back into the game, that is probably the only positive that you can take out of it.
“Not the only one but that is a big positive to take out of it, that as a squad you have to dig deep, you have to grind it out, you have to find a way, find solutions, you have got a yellow card in the second half so you have to find solutions – but I promise you it’s not part of a bigger plan. I would have enjoyed it if we were up 17-7 at half-time; this is just much better for the heart.”
Nienaber previewed Leinster’s visit to Munster shortly after media reports broke that utility back Frawley was poised join Stuart Lancaster’s Connacht next season.
The 28-year-old dramatically landed the drop goal that gave Ireland a series-levelling win over South Africa in Durban in July 2024, but he hasn’t kicked on under Andy Farrell and is now contemplating a club switch that would reunite him in Galway with Lancaster, whose departure to Racing in 2023 opened up the senior coach role filled by Nienaber.
“I don’t think anything is official yet, so I am not sure,” said the South African about the reported Frawley transfer. “That is not my responsibility. When we look at our responsibility matrix, it’s more Guy (Easterby) and obviously Leo. They will know the ins and outs and the details, so I am not sure.
“My only thing is from a rugby point of view, what’s their form on the field, so the off-field stuff I am not tuned into, so I’m not sure.
“If he doesn’t leave, what will Leinster keep? I would say if I firstly look at Ciaran as an individual and I’m talking off-field, he is a great guy and there is always good craic around him. So from a team point of view, he is a great team guy and there is always a smile on his face, always a laugh.
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“If you look at Ciaran on the field, he is a very talented rugby player and good at what he does. Obviously, he is an asset for us and knowing the person, it doesn’t matter what happens, he will give his all for the club.
“If he goes or not, he will give his all for the club, that’s the type of person that he is. And vice-versa, if it is the truth, then obviously Connacht will get a guy, as I explained, that is a great team guy and a very competent rugby player.”
However, the competition to play is relentless. “In Leinster, that is the thing,” continued Nienaber. “If you are Paddy McCarthy, you are in competition with Andrew Porter, in competition with Jack Boyle.
“Irrespective of who the player is, there is always going to be competition and the exact same thing, and I am not talking Ciaran, whoever goes down to Connacht or to Ulster, there is going to be competition.
“There is only I don’t know how many professional contracts there are in Ireland, but let’s say it’s between 160 and 180, so there is very limited spots if you want to participate in rugby on a professional level in Ireland, so the competition is intense.”
