Anthony Foley's death taught Jacques Nienaber 'that you only have now'

Leinster coach Nienaber was frustrated with how an interview he gave to a South African broadcaster has been interpreted in Ireland. 

Jacques Nienaber was at Munster in 2016 when Anthony Foley died. Pic: ©INPHO/Billy Stickland

There’s an old saying that if you’re explaining you’re losing. Jacques Nienaber did a lot of explaining when speaking on Monday about a recent interview with South African TV in which he admitted to missing the Springboks and left the door open to a possible return.

It was, if nothing else, naïve given his current role with Leinster and the unfounded but stubborn theory out there that he had been dispatched to Dublin by a Machiavellian South African brains trust eager for him to soak up all that Irish IP and repatriate it before 2027.

There was a clear frustration on his part with how a 26-minute interview with South African broadcaster Matt Pearce for a ‘What Goes on Tour’ series podcast was boiled down to a select number of lines and headlines in print form.

Like it or not, it’s the nature of journalism in all its forms to extract the best lines and grab the attention of reader, listener or viewer, all of them inevitably shaped by someone who, consciously or otherwise, fashions them a certain way.

And the potential pitfalls of speaking about future plans were all but spelled out to him by Pearce who brought up the subject in the most tentative of ways towards the end. “Dare we ask,” the interviewer said, “or is it unfair to ask, [about] medium or long-term plans.” 

Nienaber had already recounted to Pearce how the Leinster job was requiring less time away from his family, and that this was one of the reasons behind his decision not to continue coaching at Test level with the Boks.

He had explained how he was enjoying the club, the people, the players and the country and life that goes with it: how the Nienabers have travelled around Ireland, including one trip from Donegal to Cork, calling in on friends along the way.

But it had also been Nienaber who, when asked about life at Leinster first up, declared unprompted at the end of his first answer that he was missing the Boks, the ‘family’, the coaches, the players and the interactions.

“So, just because I enjoy coaching Leinster players it does not mean now I don’t enjoy the players of South Africa. I still love them,” he explained on Monday. “They died for me when I was coaching them, just as the Leinster players die for me when I am coaching them now.

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy South Africa, I love South Africa, it is my home country. I am still South African. But I am working at Leinster and I am giving everything to Leinster. So that was the whole thing. And then the question on what do you see in the future?” 

Cue the rewind. The plan when Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus arrived in Limerick to coach Munster in 2016 was to stay five years, get Irish citizenship, have their children study in Ireland and maybe return home to take over the Boks for a shot at the 2027 World Cup.

When Anthony Foley passed away in Paris prior to a Munster game against Racing 92 it was, said Nienaber, a moment of realisation that grand plans can come to nothing. So, when the Springbok opportunity arose, he and Erasmus returned home early.

Nienaber’s recall of Foley’s passing was raw. October 16th was his own birthday. He recounted the night before when he sat with Foley and others drinking wine and eating cheese before returning to their rooms. Foley was in the room next to him.

The next morning had started with a run around Paris. He ran to the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe with fellow Munster coaches Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery, took pictures, had breakfast and returned to the hotel in cabs for what should have been a late kickoff.

“The thing that I learned then is that you only have now. So I said, ‘I can't tell you what the future will hold’ because I've learned that. I've mapped one out, and it just doesn't work like that in life. And that was it. And, yeah, so that was the whole interview.” 

If there was frustration at how that interview has been interpreted then it was heightened by the focus on it now just as Leinster prepare to start their latest Heineken Champions Cup campaign on Saturday against Harlequins at the Aviva Stadium.

All Black Rieko Ioane is available despite training for just the first time with his new club on Monday. So is Joe McCarthy who has been sidelined with a foot injury since the British and Irish Lions tour, as well as Tommy O’Brien after a head injury.

Doubts remain over Andrew Porter (arm), James Lowe (calf) and Robbie Henshaw (hamstring) while Hugo Keenan, Jamie Osborne and Ryan Baird are among those dealing with longer-term injuries and also unavailable.

Attention will return to the action between the white lines soon enough. The Investec Champions Cup has eluded Leinster so far in this Nienaber era. Change that in Bilbao in May and all this kerfuffle will be long forgotten.