Former wing Andrew Trimble has responded to the pundits who have attributed Ireland’s recent struggles to ex-Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber.
Andy Farrell’s side opened the Six Nations Championship with a dreadful 36-14 defeat to France, which followed up disappointing losses to the All Blacks and South Africa in November.
Several theories have already been thrown around as to why the national team has suffered a decline since the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Ex-Ireland duo blame Jacques Nienaber
One of them is the arrival of Nienaber at Leinster, with Ireland greats Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan among those to pin some of the blame on the double Rugby World Cup winner.
The 53-year-old has looked to implement the defensive system which he used at the Springboks, but some believe that it has harmed what made Leinster and Ireland so potent.
“It’s so funny, Irish pundits and commentators are scrambling around trying to find someone to blame. If you’re not from Ulster, Jacob Stockdale gets the blame. If you’re from Munster, Sam Prendergast gets the blame,” Trimble said on the Rivals podcast.
“Some people are blaming Jacques Nienaber for Ireland at the weekend, it’s so funny. He’s brought in something which I think is formidable. South Africa have shown that if it is implemented correctly, it’s the best defence in the world – breakdown pressure with line speed and it just strangles the opposition.”
Ireland were renowned for their attacking game leading up to the 2023 World Cup, but Nienaber has placed more emphasis on the defence since replacing Stuart Lancaster as Leinster’s senior coach.
There was certainly more alignment between the two teams when Lancaster was at the province and Trimble admitted that there appears to be some “confusion”, but not necessarily to the extent some have suggested.
Garry Ringrose ‘got it wrong’
“Leinster haven’t quite got there with it, but as a result there’s maybe a little bit of confusion going back and forth between Irish camp and Leinster camp with so many Leinster guys training one way and then playing different in green,” Trimble said.
“I thought we saw the worst version of it at the weekend. For me, if you bring in line speed, shooters, if you create that chaos, it plants the seed, ‘do I throw this pass?’ There’s the uncertainty around decision-making [for the attacker].
“Garry Ringrose is probably the one guy who shoots up, makes decisions, he’s brave in defence, but he just got one or two reads wrong. He got beaten into that hole by the French attacker.
“It felt like they didn’t do either well. They didn’t do what they did in the past with that Irish defence, and they didn’t do the Leinster defence. Maybe there’s some confusion and it’s hard to go back and forth.”