Fifty nights instead of 170
The number jumps out. With the Springboks, Jacques Nienaber used to spend between 150 and 170 nights a year away from home. South Africa do not have a fixed base, so the team is always on the move. At Leinster, he is down to around 50.
That is the first reason he gives for the move. Family.
But it is not the only one.
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“Two or three years ahead”
Nienaber walked away from Test rugby in 2023 after back-to-back world titles with South Africa. He is now into his fourth season as Leinster head coach. And he does not dodge the verdict: club rugby, he says, is “probably two or three years ahead” of the international game.
His case comes down to volume. Thirteen Tests in an international season. Around 30 club matches, before you even factor in training. “If you want to build new systems, new plans, you are tested a lot more at club level, and club coaches are much more willing to take risks,” he told the Bank of Ireland Roadshow Series with Off The Ball.
He points to two clear examples. The contested kick game, which was six or seven months ahead at club level. And quick taps after penalties, those restart plays you could count on one hand at the last World Cup and which are now everywhere.
There is a caveat, though. He feared the standards might drop when he left the international stage. Instead, he found the opposite in Dublin: internationals who demand detail and clean plans, with pressure on the staff that feels every bit as intense as any national set-up.
His forecast for Ireland
His former Springboks have just strengthened their status as 2027 World Cup favourites by finishing their series against the All Blacks 3-1. The consensus has those two nations well clear of the pack.
Nienaber is not buying the rush to write everyone else off. He points out that Ireland, third in the world rankings despite the batterings they took last season against South Africa and New Zealand, are still very much in the mix.
Then he drops the line that shuts the argument down. When Rassie Erasmus and he left Ireland in 2018, South Africa were eighth in the world. A year later, they were world champions.
“You should not read too much into where teams sit right now.”
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