Jacques Nienaber opens up on first year at Leinster and gives his verdict on key criticism
Leinster's players and their senior coach, Jacques Nienaber.
Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber recently completed his first year as part of the Irish province’s backroom staff and revealed he is enjoying his time at the Dublin-based outfit.
After joining Leinster at the end of November 2023, Nienaber has settled in nicely in his new surroundings although they are yet to win silverware since he joined them after losing in last season’s Champions Cup final against Toulouse and they were beaten by the Bulls in the 2023/24 United Rugby Championship semi-final.
That defeat to Toulouse meant Leinster lost their third successive Champions Cup final after back-to-back defeats to another French side, La Rochelle, in 2022 and 2023. Leo Cullen’s troops kick off their 2024/25 campaign in that tournament against Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate on Sunday.
Over the years, Nienaber has earned a reputation as being one of the world’s best defensive coaches and Leinster have certainly shown an improvement in that department since he joined their coaching staff.
Leinster’s attacking play criticised
However, critics point out that since Nienaber’s predecessor, Stuart Lancaster, has left his position to take up an offer as Racing 92’s head coach, Leinster’s attack has regressed.
Legendary Ireland and Leinster centre Brian O’Driscoll said as much earlier this year.
“I don’t think their attack looks fluid without Stuart Lancaster there,” O’Driscoll said on the Off The Ball podcast.
“This is hard because I’m not privy to those sessions but, looking from the quality that has been delivered on matchday versus some of the free-flowing rugby we saw under Stuart Lancaster, particularly last year and the year before, I don’t think the attack looks quite as sharp.”
He added: “The attack hasn’t been quite as good and it is probably a combination of Jacques Nienaber primarily focusing on defence and so you lose the attacking mindset of Stuart Lancaster.”
On the question if Leinster’s attack has suffered while more emphasis has been placed on their defence, Nienaber is not dismissive of that theory.
“It might,” he admitted to the Irish Times. “It might. I don’t want to give energy to narratives, but if it’s the truth? I don’t know.
“If you ask me now is our attack worse than last year currently, no it’s not. It’s the exact same, scoring 31 points per game. So, that’s the reality.”
He is happy with the improvement shown in their defensive efforts since the start of this season and has the statistics to back it up.
‘We have conceded 12 points per game’
“Last year we had conceded 19 points per game, and now we have conceded 12 points per game, although it could change this weekend,” he said.
Nienaber was no stranger to Ireland when he arrived at Leinster last year after spending two years at Munster as an assistant coach to his good friend Rassie Erasmus.
Like that stint at the Limerick-based outfit, the 52-year-old is also enjoying his time at Leinster immensely.
“The people are brilliant and not just nice, they challenge you in a positive way,” added Nienaber.
“The environment is high performance so you have to pull your weight. You can’t just cruise and enjoy the lifestyle and Dublin and Ireland. You have to work and produce. Everyone else is pulling their weight, so you have to add yours.”
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