Africa-Press – South-Africa. United Rugby Championship (URC) pacesetters Leinster’s swoop for Jacques Nienaber was hailed as a “brilliant move” that will grant them a chunk of South Africa’s rugby intellectual property (IP).
SA Rugby confirmed last weekend that the Springbok head coach was headed to the Irish giants following the Rugby World Cup in France, which concludes on 28 October.
Nienaber has been in the current Springbok dispensation since 2018, when he was Rassie Erasmus’ defence coach. It was also a position he held at the Stormers, Cheetahs and Munster before.
While the Bok job was his first as head coach, the Boks maintained a similar win record (61%) under Nienaber from 2019 to now as they had under Erasmus (65%), who led them to the 2019 world title in Japan.
Now, Nienaber is joining an unbeaten Leinster team, sitting pretty at the top of the URC log, that is heading into their clash against the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday (16:05).
“It’s a brilliant move,” said former Springbok assistant coach Swys de Bruin.
“The Irish work as one. (New Zealander) David Nucifora runs the four provinces and there are directors of coaching who share all the information.
“They’re not like us. They don’t have a little island for every team. All their franchises work in unison. I know this from having spoken to them.
“What they’re getting now is a brilliant move by Irish rugby to get all that IP.
“If you sign a guy, you’re not only signing him, you’re signing his IP and the whole South African playbook is now going to be in their hands.
“They’re the top franchise in the world and they’re getting the World Cup-winning defence coach, which is a very clever move.”
However, Nienaber’s position didn’t seem to be in doubt heading into the Springboks’ World Cup defence in France. His decision to leave the Boks took many by surprise.
Most perplexing was that Nienaber had exhibited hints of moving the Springbok playing style from a conservative and defence-orientated blueprint to infusing attacking verve.
Most coaches would relish the chance to replenish a team when players such as Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Manie Libbok have emerged, while Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Handre Pollard have shown little evidence of peak decline.
Damian Willemse has also grown into a versatile and crucial member of the team, and there are at least five scrum-halves to pick from who are in top form.
Unlike when the Boks lost Victor Matfield (who retired in 2011 and returned in 2013), Bakkies Botha (retired in 2011), Jaque Fourie, Fourie du Preez and Jean de Villiers (all retired in 2015), the Springbok rebuild post-2023 doesn’t appear as arduous on the next head coach as it did on Allister Coetzee in 2016.
De Bruin, who coached the Lions to their last of three straight Super Rugby finals in 2018, failed to make sense of why Nienaber could let go of the chance to rebuild the Boks with such promising talent at his future disposal.
“As he said, he’s leaving for personal reasons, so we won’t know exactly why,” De Bruin told News24.
“They did bring in those guys who can run and who are very talented. I saw [an attacking game] in stages but, as soon as the pressure came, they went back to the box kick and the old style, which I did not understand.
“But it’s a very good question. I think he made up his mind a while ago that he’s going to finish this stint – two World Cups, not more – and that’s what happened.
“And, obviously, if someone says it was for personal reasons, then there must be something we don’t know as well.”
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