JACQUES NIENABER HAS the floor. Over the course of a 25 minute chat in Leinster’s UCD headquarters, Nienaber will spend most of that time addressing his comments to South African broadcaster SuperSport two weeks ago.
You know the ones, the ones where Nienaber said he misses the Springboks and that “one never knows” if he might wind up working on Rassie Erasmus’ coaching staff again. They caused quite a stir, helped by Erasmus adding some fuel to the fire the following day by indicting he’d be interested in getting his old mate back on board.
Nienaber doesn’t feel the need to backtrack on what he said, because he feels his words on South Africa were singled out from a wide-ranging interview. Looking at how those comments have been viewed, he feels his integrity has been called into question, and that a narrative was being driven by the media. Indeed, there are times where he gets quite animated as he explains his views on a story he sees as a total non-story. He stresses there is no grand plan to learn the tricks of Irish rugby and bring them home to benefit the Boks.
He points to how in that same interview, he had also spoken about how much he is enjoying Leinster – “loving” the people, his road trips to Donegal and Cork, and that as a South African, it should be no great surprise he misses being part of a successful South African set-up.
“I coached the Boks to two World Cups,” Nienaber says. “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. 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.
“I said I love the Springboks, because I do,” he continues. “I love the Springboks. I don’t, now, because I love Leinster (not love the Springboks)… And that’s the thing. I’m not working for Ireland, I’m working for Leinster. I’m dying for Leinster, not for Ireland, because I’m not working for Ireland.
“And I know probably that will now be taken as ‘Jacques said he would not die for Ireland’, because that’s the narrative people want to drive here, and I don’t understand why.
“I was open cards. I’m probably the most honest person, I think, in media (dealings) that you can have. I don’t want to try and hide things. I’m as open and honest as I can be.”
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The suggestion he might be planning to link up with the Springboks again before the 2027 World Cup really got under his skin. On this, he starts by pointing out that it was public knowledge his contract – extended earlier this season – runs until the end of the 2026/27 campaign. Of course, there is a backstory which is relevant to all of this. Go back to 2017, when Nienaber was part of Erasmus’ coaching staff at Munster. During that period Erasmus repeatedly denied he would be leaving Munster early to take the South Africa job, and well, we all know what happened there. It is only natural enough those memories could stir fears of history repeating itself.
When this is put to Nienaber, he accepts the point. “That’s fair.”
The back-and-forth rumbles along. Nienaber is asked, plain and simple, if he will be at Leinster until the completion of his current contract.
“If they don’t fire me, yes. Yeah.”
Nienaber with Leinster's Dan Sheehan. Andrew Conan / INPHO
Andrew Conan / INPHO / INPHO
This contract question brings him back to 2023, when he confirmed he would be leaving the Springboks after that year’s World Cup.
“I announced that I’m going to leave the Springboks in March/April 2023. I’m the head coach of the Springboks. I’m supposed to take them to a World Cup, we’re supposed to go and defend the World Cup. And that’s why I don’t get it. People think this is the master plan, Rassie and Jacques, let’s go and win the World Cup, we’ll send you to Leinster, you get all the information, you come back. I mean, how can you in March think we’re going to win the World Cup if you’re in that pool? I mean, it’s crazy.
“But again it’s a narrative that people live and tell and like to tell. I mean, I stood in front of the players and said, ‘Listen lads, do you question my integrity? I am going to give everything to the Springboks side as their head coach to make sure we win the World Cup. Everything in my power. I’m gonna work till the blood comes out of my eyes’, which is the same thing I’ll do for Leinster because that’s why Leinster got me here.
So for me that’s why I feel offended. I feel, jeez, people don’t even know me, but they question my integrity.”
He continues, saying he probably could have made a U-turn on his decision and stayed with the Boks, but that he had given his word to Leinster and never had second thoughts.
“I’m not saying I’m a saint in any way, but I feel people don’t trust my integrity, and here we are on the eve, on the start of Europe (Champions Cup), and you know what, we’re talking about Jacques Nienaber’s contract.
“I don’t know why, but I like it because I’ve the opportunity to set it straight. But let’s go listen to the (SuperSport) interview and tell me I said I want to go back to South Africa. Tell me, the whole thing, where does that come out there? How do you get to that conclusion? That’s what I don’t understand.”
But of course, there is a clause that can be activated in his contract to trigger an early release, the same one triggered to end his time with Munster.
Nienaber reflects on his thought process during that period. The South African job had been a dream for both him and Erasmus, but one they envisioned happening further down the line. The opportunity arrived earlier than expected. He says the death of Anthony Foley had changed his perspective on life.
“100%,” he says, detailing how he spent the night in Foley’s company before his shock passing in Paris on 16 October 2016. Nienaber was staying in the hotel room next to Foley’s.
Nienaber worked with the late Anthony Foley at Munster. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“That hit me like a ton of bricks in the face. You can plan your life ahead but then life happens. And my words (to SuperSport) were you only have now. You only have now.
“So when the opportunity came to go back to South Africa (in 2017), we said okay, we just learned that you can say you will plan to be at that level at that age, this is my pathway and this is how I am mapping out my life. And then something like that happens, and the thing 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 (plan) out, and it just doesn’t work like that in life. And that was it.”
Who knows what the future holds. The picture can change quickly in sport and at the end of the day, it’s all business.
“Remember this is a job,” Nienaber says.
“If you get an offer now to go and work at a different company, a media company or outlet, and they say we’re going to pay you more money and there’s better opportunities for you, you probably will take it. Sport is exactly the same. It’s a job, you know?”
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'I feel offended. People don't even know me, but they question my integrity'
JACQUES NIENABER HAS the floor. Over the course of a 25 minute chat in Leinster’s UCD headquarters, Nienaber will spend most of that time addressing his comments to South African broadcaster SuperSport two weeks ago.
You know the ones, the ones where Nienaber said he misses the Springboks and that “one never knows” if he might wind up working on Rassie Erasmus’ coaching staff again. They caused quite a stir, helped by Erasmus adding some fuel to the fire the following day by indicting he’d be interested in getting his old mate back on board.
Nienaber doesn’t feel the need to backtrack on what he said, because he feels his words on South Africa were singled out from a wide-ranging interview. Looking at how those comments have been viewed, he feels his integrity has been called into question, and that a narrative was being driven by the media. Indeed, there are times where he gets quite animated as he explains his views on a story he sees as a total non-story. He stresses there is no grand plan to learn the tricks of Irish rugby and bring them home to benefit the Boks.
He points to how in that same interview, he had also spoken about how much he is enjoying Leinster – “loving” the people, his road trips to Donegal and Cork, and that as a South African, it should be no great surprise he misses being part of a successful South African set-up.
“I coached the Boks to two World Cups,” Nienaber says. “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. 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.
“I said I love the Springboks, because I do,” he continues. “I love the Springboks. I don’t, now, because I love Leinster (not love the Springboks)… And that’s the thing. I’m not working for Ireland, I’m working for Leinster. I’m dying for Leinster, not for Ireland, because I’m not working for Ireland.
“And I know probably that will now be taken as ‘Jacques said he would not die for Ireland’, because that’s the narrative people want to drive here, and I don’t understand why.
“I was open cards. I’m probably the most honest person, I think, in media (dealings) that you can have. I don’t want to try and hide things. I’m as open and honest as I can be.”
The suggestion he might be planning to link up with the Springboks again before the 2027 World Cup really got under his skin. On this, he starts by pointing out that it was public knowledge his contract – extended earlier this season – runs until the end of the 2026/27 campaign. Of course, there is a backstory which is relevant to all of this. Go back to 2017, when Nienaber was part of Erasmus’ coaching staff at Munster. During that period Erasmus repeatedly denied he would be leaving Munster early to take the South Africa job, and well, we all know what happened there. It is only natural enough those memories could stir fears of history repeating itself.
When this is put to Nienaber, he accepts the point. “That’s fair.”
The back-and-forth rumbles along. Nienaber is asked, plain and simple, if he will be at Leinster until the completion of his current contract.
“If they don’t fire me, yes. Yeah.”
This contract question brings him back to 2023, when he confirmed he would be leaving the Springboks after that year’s World Cup.
“I announced that I’m going to leave the Springboks in March/April 2023. I’m the head coach of the Springboks. I’m supposed to take them to a World Cup, we’re supposed to go and defend the World Cup. And that’s why I don’t get it. People think this is the master plan, Rassie and Jacques, let’s go and win the World Cup, we’ll send you to Leinster, you get all the information, you come back. I mean, how can you in March think we’re going to win the World Cup if you’re in that pool? I mean, it’s crazy.
“But again it’s a narrative that people live and tell and like to tell. I mean, I stood in front of the players and said, ‘Listen lads, do you question my integrity? I am going to give everything to the Springboks side as their head coach to make sure we win the World Cup. Everything in my power. I’m gonna work till the blood comes out of my eyes’, which is the same thing I’ll do for Leinster because that’s why Leinster got me here.
He continues, saying he probably could have made a U-turn on his decision and stayed with the Boks, but that he had given his word to Leinster and never had second thoughts.
“I’m not saying I’m a saint in any way, but I feel people don’t trust my integrity, and here we are on the eve, on the start of Europe (Champions Cup), and you know what, we’re talking about Jacques Nienaber’s contract.
“I don’t know why, but I like it because I’ve the opportunity to set it straight. But let’s go listen to the (SuperSport) interview and tell me I said I want to go back to South Africa. Tell me, the whole thing, where does that come out there? How do you get to that conclusion? That’s what I don’t understand.”
But of course, there is a clause that can be activated in his contract to trigger an early release, the same one triggered to end his time with Munster.
Nienaber reflects on his thought process during that period. The South African job had been a dream for both him and Erasmus, but one they envisioned happening further down the line. The opportunity arrived earlier than expected. He says the death of Anthony Foley had changed his perspective on life.
“100%,” he says, detailing how he spent the night in Foley’s company before his shock passing in Paris on 16 October 2016. Nienaber was staying in the hotel room next to Foley’s.
“That hit me like a ton of bricks in the face. You can plan your life ahead but then life happens. And my words (to SuperSport) were you only have now. You only have now.
“So when the opportunity came to go back to South Africa (in 2017), we said okay, we just learned that you can say you will plan to be at that level at that age, this is my pathway and this is how I am mapping out my life. And then something like that happens, and the thing 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 (plan) out, and it just doesn’t work like that in life. And that was it.”
Who knows what the future holds. The picture can change quickly in sport and at the end of the day, it’s all business.
“Remember this is a job,” Nienaber says.
“If you get an offer now to go and work at a different company, a media company or outlet, and they say we’re going to pay you more money and there’s better opportunities for you, you probably will take it. Sport is exactly the same. It’s a job, you know?”
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Jacques Nienaber Leinster Rugby