Ireland hoping knowledge of Jacques Nienaber defence can pay off against Springboks
Tommy O'Brien poses for a portrait during a Ireland Rugby media conference at the IRFU High Performance Centre. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile.
Andy Farrell wasn’t having any truck with the theory put to him earlier this month that his Ireland team, through the ubiquity of their Leinster contingent, had imported the Jacques Nienaber defence into their game.
Nienaber’s imprint has been debated and dissected almost since his arrival in Dublin. That it has altered Leinster’s DNA is unquestionable, but there has been a persistent suspicion that it may have complicated things for those Leinster players on national duties.
One is a blitz, the other is more “square”, according to Farrell.
Whatever about that, having a first-hand knowledge of the Nienaber way has to be a plus this week, what with the Springboks coming to town and the South African coach’s input into the team up to and including the last World Cup in France.
Tommy O’Brien doesn’t disagree.
“I guess there's an air of familiarity from playing in Leinster, and playing and training against the defence that South Africa do regularly. Jacques Nienaber would have been the one implementing it. Now obviously he hasn't been there for a couple of years, there's a few little tweaks, but I think the basis of it is quite similar to what we do.
“So in that sense it's quite good that, year-round in Leinster, you're training against similar pictures to what we're thinking we're going to face this week. So in that sense there's obviously a lot of linespeed, a lot of pressure. Your guys are protecting their inside shoulders. It's just about knowing how you're going to beat that.”
Every little morsel of info will count this weekend.
The Boks are all but irresistible at the moment. Reduced to 14 men the last two weeks against Italy and France, they have overcome those setbacks and others to pull through both games. They are back-to-back Rugby Championship winners and beating Ireland would all but guarantee them a Grand Slam northern tour.
There is an aura about them at the moment that is reminiscent of the great All Black teams in the 2010s. Even the odd loss, like the shock reversal against the Wallabies in Ellis Park earlier this year, hasn't really dented the perception of them as they continue to rack up wins while evolving for the 2027 World Cup.
“They've lost games in between [their World Cup wins] but I guess that's maybe down to some of the innovation they've tried to introduce. You can see that with some of the benches they've used. They obviously have Esterhuizen [Andre, centre/flanker] as a hybrid, they're using the 7-1s [bench split] and stuff like that.
“So, they're not afraid to try a few things. That's something that's great and we're obviously all keeping an eye on how they're innovating. But the nuts and bolts of South African rugby has always stayed the same. They're hugely physical, they're going to work unbelievably hard, they're very passionate. That's something that they still have, 100%.”
The hope for Ireland is that a graph pointing in the right direction since their false start against the All Blacks in Chicago can reach high enough to claim a fifth win in six attempts against the Boks and leave them searching again for a first win in Dublin since 2012.
O’Brien’s own form has matched the collective trend. On the fringes against New Zealand in Soldier Field, his input and his returns have both kicked on as he and the collective get up to speed after something of a standing start.
“This is week four or week five in camp. So yeah, you definitely feel well used to it and well in with the guys. I haven't played too much internationally before but now I've played the last three 80 minutes, which is fantastic.
“They've kind of been very different levels. We were obviously disappointed with our performance in Chicago, but the great thing about that was that it was the first game and we knew we had three games.
“Obviously Japan was better, and then Australia another level up, and we know it's going to have to be another step up again this week.”
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