Jacques Nienaber made a case for the defence or defences to be precise. Leinster are back in action in the United Rugby Championship (URC) when they host Benetton at the RDS on Saturday (3.0), a clash of first versus second in the table as the Italians look to clamber past their hopes.
But it was a chat about international rugby that nudged the conversation towards the defensive side of things. Nienaber lived vicariously through his players as he watched Ireland not only beat Italy 36-0 in the Six Nations game at the Aviva Stadium, but not concede a point in the process. He’s part of a WhatsApp group with the Leinster players and communicated his congratulations.
“I thought it was beautiful,” he smiled. “I texted the lads afterwards. I just said that zero does look beautiful. For any defence coach, it’s a thing of beauty. But obviously the pressure you put on from an attacking point of view creates that.
“If you have scoreboard pressure like Ireland, they [Italy] have to take more risks and from deeper, which probably puts you in a better position, so it is always a thing of beauty, a zero.”
Felix Jones worked with and under Nienaber as South Africa won successive World Cups in Japan (2019) and France (2023), the latter as attack coach, but he has now moved on to take up the role as defence coach with England. The Dubliner has already put his stamp on that aspect in the opening couple of games in the Six Nations.
In the rush to pigeonhole, there has been a temptation in some media quarters to label it as South African in orientation. Nienaber rejects the notion. “I can’t say that it is like South Africa. It will be more line speed with an English flavour on it. I remember when we played against them [England] in a World Cup semi-final, they also brought line speed. That’s why I can’t say it’s South African.
Italian demolition job with Gerry Thornley and John O'Sullivan
“In rugby, one must be very careful not to label a style. Nobody owns a style, nobody owns a brand [of rugby]. You do things that you think are going to work for you, with the athletic ability and skill set that you have within your squad.
“That is why you decide to do things a certain way. No one owns the right to anything in rugby. Everyone takes a little bit off somebody, and then they add their own flavour.”
Former Munster and Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery was recently appointed as South Africa’s new defence coach. Nienaber, who worked with him at Munster, said it was “an excellent appointment”, before explaining that Flannery had spent some time with the Springboks in the build-up to the World Cup in France.
“He [Flannery] would be very familiar with the way that Rassie [Erasmus] would do stuff, because it will be very similar to how we did things when we were at Munster. Jerry actually spent some time with us in the World Cup preparation.
“He understands how the environment operates and the players would know him. They met him for the week or two that he has been there. He won’t be unfamiliar to them. He actually helped us a little bit with the hookers. He added value with the lineout throws, him being an international hooker himself. Just adding things that he saw, and I’m not saying it took over from there and all that, but it just added value.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for Jerry and I think he will be good for the Boks. I think both of those appointments, him and Tony Brown, are excellent appointments.”
Ross Byrne and Jamie Osborne have returned to team training following injury, and provided they come through tomorrow’s session and get a sign-off from the medical team, could be available for selection for the Benetton game.
Nienaber said of Byrne’s return: “He’s done some training, done all his contact stuff, and now the last step is being part of the squad and team training. Then, as coaches, we will have to see if we are happy with his form in training sessions, and then the medics have to sign him off, so yeah, he’s training with us. That decision will probably get made later in the week.”
