Nienaber to start Leinster career by facing old Munster friends

FAMILIAR FACES: Incoming Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber before the Rugby World Cup 2023 final. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire.

World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber will start his new job with Leinster next week and his first order of business will be a URC interpro derby against his old friends from Munster at the Aviva Stadium.

The South African will arrive in Dublin on the back of his role as head coach to a Springbok side that defended the Webb Ellis trophy in France and ‘fresh’ from an extended victory tour throughout his native country.

Nienaber spent 18 months with Munster as defence coach under Rassie Erasmus before the pair cut short their time in Ireland and returned home to take over a South African national team that was in the doldrums at the time.

His arrival in Ireland is eagerly-awaited given his credentials and a Springbok approach to the game, which is very different to the focus Stuart Lancaster brought to the province before his decision to leave during the summer for Racing 92.

It is an influence that will take time to bed in.

"I think it will be gradual from the outset and, in fairness, allowing him to get his feet under the table and see how things work,” said Leinster forwards coach Robin McBryde. “Obviously he is familiar with Irish rugby having had the experience with Munster. He is a little bit further down the road than other [new] coaches would be.” 

That meeting with Munster will happen next Saturday week and, while things have moved on since he departed Limerick in 2017, there are still a dozen or so players on the Munster books who were there during his time at the club.

McBryde joked that he would love to see a reprise of the 7/1 bench split adopted by the Boks at the World Cup when asked about the ideas that Nienaber might bring with him. That’s unlikely, obviously, but the cultural exchange of ideas will be fascinating.

“There is going to be interesting discussions over the table over styles of play as well. Obviously the kicking game is going to be huge. Even down to the different training weeks, how they are structured, the content, the length of sessions, the length of meetings.

“There are a lot of things to be discussed really so, yeah, it is just a very exciting period and a very exciting place to be from a coach's point of view,” said McBryde, “expecting Jacques to be coming in and adding his bits to what's already going on here.”