FOR A Leinster team that has made something of an art form out of losing tight games, the arrival of Jacques Nienaber as senior coach must feel like the signing of the century. Nienaber, not that anybody will forget, was Rassie Erasmus’s right-hand man with South Africa at the World Cup, winning the quarter, semi and the final by a single point. Together, they went back-to-back on the sport’s biggest stage.
And as good as they have been, Leinster have become the anti-Boks. A one-point loss in the 2023 Champions Cup final against La Rochelle, a one-point loss in the 2023 United Rugby Championship semi-final against Munster, a three-point loss in the 2022 Champions Cup final against La Rochelle and a one-point loss in the URC semi against the Bulls in the same season.
Given Nienaber’s famed work-rate, it’s easy to picture him slipping away from the World Cup party, still in his tracksuit with gold medal dangling from his neck, to begin the research on his mission to drag
