IT WAS THE venue where he enjoyed his first game as senior coach of the province and now Jacques Nienaber is excited to be heading back to an enhanced Dexcom Stadium with Leinster this weekend.

Just a few short weeks after guiding his native South Africa to a second successive Rugby World Cup title, Nienaber was in Galway on 2 December, 2023 as his new employers edged out Connacht thanks to a stoppage-time try from the soon to be western-bound Ciaran Frawley. 8,129 spectators were in attendance for that game, but an even healthier atmosphere is anticipated when the two sides meet at Dexcom in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.

Having operated under a reduced capacity up to this point in the season, Connacht will finally be able to welcome supporters to their new North Stand – now known as ‘the Clan Stand’- this weekend. The presence of Stuart Lancaster (Nienaber’s predecessor as Leinster senior coach) at the helm of the westerners adds considerable intrigue to this fixture and Saturday just gone saw Connacht responding to a difficult run of results with an emphatic 75-14 victory over Montauban in the pool stages of the EPCR Challenge Cup.

“If you look at this last weekend, their performance, and I thought they were a little bit unlucky in the previous game [a two-point defeat to Montpellier]. So they’re a team that’s building nice momentum going into this game. It’s massively exciting for us,” Nienaber remarked at a Leinster media briefing yesterday.

“The whole occasion, such a privilege to be part of it and I think there will be no lack of motivation. There’s always a little bit of spice in Interpros. Which is good and then the knowledge between the players here and Stuart. There’s good knowledge between the two teams which makes for a scintillating match, hopefully. 

“Coaching against Stu, even when I was with Munster in 2016-17, it’s exciting, exhilarating. There’s always some trick plays, trick moves and things that you have to look out for and it’s so stimulating. It keeps you up at night. You don’t sleep a lot in the week to try and cover all the spaces that he will create with his attack.” 

Although the aforementioned Frawley and Jack Conan are due to be available for selection after missing out on last Saturday’s visit to Bayonne in the European Champions Cup, Leinster quartet Jimmy O’Brien (hamstring), Tommy O’Brien, Tadhg Furlong (both calf) and Robbie Henshaw (knee) will all require further assessment before a decision is made on their participation in the Connacht game. 

Additionally, long-term absentees Hugo Keenan and Jamie Osborne have increased their on-field training exposure, but are ultimately still out of contention for this weekend. Meanwhile, there was no further update in yesterday’s Leinster squad bulletin on Ryan Baird, Jordan Larmour, Paddy McCarthy, Andrew Porter and Rabah Slimani.

Even though only a portion of the above-mentioned players were part of the touring party in Australia, Nienaber (a qualified physiotherapist) was asked if having so much of the squad on British & Irish Lions duty last summer had played a part in Leinster dealing with a significant injury list this season.

While he was uncertain if the Lions tour was a contributing factor behind some of the missing bodies they have had to contend with, Nienaber acknowledged the province didn’t have the most ideal lead-in to the current campaign.

“If I put a physio hat on, they finished British & Irish Lions and then they had a five-week off period. Then I would say they had to almost play Munster [at Croke Park in October] because [otherwise] they don’t play any rugby before they go into New Zealand [with Ireland]. You kind of had to get them back playing Munster,” Nienaber added.

“I think that was a five or six week cycle, where if you look at the other players, they had probably a 10 to 12 week one. So five weeks off and then you can have them maybe split up, giving them one week off. You’ve got another three weeks of nice conditioning and getting them ready. Give them a little bit of a break in between and then you can hammer them for another three weeks.

“I think it’s definitely not the optimal pre-season, but it is just the cards [you’re dealt]. If that is the reason for the injuries, I can’t say that. No one can say that. It’s impossible to say it is the case or it’s not the case, because there are players who went on the British and Irish Lions tour who are playing all the games. Sometimes it’s luck, but I think if you could have planned a different pre-season, you would have.”