{"id":896728,"date":"2026-09-18T16:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896728\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:24:16","slug":"jacques-nienaber-shares-update-on-his-leinster-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/896728\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacques Nienaber shares update on his Leinster future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Springboks<\/a> boss Jacques Nienaber has shared the latest update on his future with Irish club Leinster.<\/p>\n

The double Rugby World Cup-winning coach left South Africa following their 2023 triumph in France to take up a senior coaching position under Leo Cullen in Dublin.<\/p>\n

There has been speculation that Nienaber could wind up back working with the Springboks in time for the bid to win a hat-trick of World Cup titles next year in Australia, as he has a six-month break clause in his contract in Ireland.<\/p>\n

However, it has also been speculated that he could be in the running to replace Cullen as Leinster<\/a> boss because the ex-Irish lock, who has been in charge since 2015, revealed some months ago that he will step down at the end of the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to wait and see\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi is the latest high-profile operator linked with the post, but Nienaber is also said to be a live contender.<\/p>\n

Asked on the Bank of Ireland Roadshow Series with Off The Ball<\/a> if there was a chance that 2026\/27 would be his last season at Leinster, Nienaber jested: \u201cYou want me to go? You want me gone? I can use that six-month thing\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it\u2019s an ongoing process, like everybody would say. We will have to wait and see how things work out, and when everybody is aligned, all the stakeholders are happy and aligned, then they\u2019ll probably announce whatever is going to happen going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s now nearly three years since Nienaber was the head coach who helped the Springboks<\/a> to their three one-point, knockout stage victories at Rugby World Cup 2023, and he has kept in touch with their progress since then as a fan.<\/p>\n

Quizzed about Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry<\/a> series before South Africa sealed their 3-1 victory with last Saturday\u2019s success over the All Blacks<\/a> in Baltimore, Nienaber said: \u201cI\u2019m watching the games, but like you do as a fan with a pint having a braai or sitting in one of the pubs.<\/p>\n

Jake White: Springboks\u2019 onslaught proves that this All Blacks team lacks \u2018Terminators\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask me now tactically what are they doing, I wouldn\u2019t know. I just enjoy the games\u2026 it\u2019s good to see (number) one and two playing against each other<\/a> and after two Tests, after 200 minutes of rugby, one Test each and 12-all at half-time. That\u2019s how tight it is at the top. That\u2019s enjoyable. I enjoy what\u2019s happening there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nienaber went on to pay tribute to the influence Cullen has wielded during his lengthy service at Leinster, from playing with them at under-age level all the way through to being in charge as head coach since 2015.<\/p>\n

Asked what he most admired about Cullen, the South African said: \u201cHis absolute love for the club. He has spoken about how many years he\u2019s been at the club, but the absolute sacrifice at all costs, having connections; the club will miss that. I can tell you straight; they\u2019re going to miss that.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as\u00a0a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a guy that knows everything, that knows a Jerry Cahir; he knows about him. Why? Because he watches the clubs, he watched them play, and that will be missed, so whoever takes on that role going forward, that\u2019s probably the connection (that is needed).<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing head coach of Leinster and being fully aligned with what the A team is doing, being fully aligned with what the academy is doing because there\u2019s such a big integration. Having that connection, that same alignment and care for the clubs, that\u2019s probably why, in my opinion, Leinster is so successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not just saying it because he\u2019s sitting next to me, but he [Cullen] is the Sir Alex Ferguson of rugby. Show me any other club in Europe that has got a coach that has been so invested in a club. There\u2019s none!\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: The \u2018proud\u2019 feeling that helped Tommy O\u2019Brien cope with Ireland setback and the target now set for \u2018pinnacle of my career\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber has shared the latest update on his future with Irish club Leinster. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,6265,44,760,85],"class_list":["post-896728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-leinster","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}