{"id":171239,"date":"2025-12-02T15:36:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171239\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T15:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T15:36:14","slug":"jacques-nienaber-rejects-questions-over-his-commitment-to-leinster-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/171239\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacques Nienaber rejects questions over his commitment to Leinster \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacques Nienaber cleaned house on Monday at Leinster<\/a>\u2019s training ground in UCD. <\/p>\n

The two-time World Cup winning Springbok<\/a> coach felt his integrity had been questioned having explained on South Africa\u2019s Supersport Channel two things can be true at the same time.<\/p>\n

Nienaber said he misses the Springboks while also continuing to love his time coaching at Leinster.<\/p>\n

\"\"Why are Irish rugby tickets so expensive?<\/p>\n

He also committed to remaining with the province until his contract ends in 2027.<\/p>\n

An animated Nienaber spoke about how a narrow take on what he said about life disrupting well-laid plans, as well as taking opportunities, inferred he may not stay true to his word.<\/p>\n

Although it was pointed out that he and Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus<\/a> committed to Munster, before subsequently departing, Nienaber was affronted by questions regarding his loyalty to both the Springboks and Leinster.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatthew Pearce has a show called what goes on tour stays on tour,\u201d said Nienaber. \u201cThe whole thing was them catching up with South Africans abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the thing started. I really enjoy the club, I enjoy my family time. With the Boks, I was 154 days away like this year, even if we make finals with Leinster, I will be away from home maybe 50 nights.<\/p>\n

\"RassieRassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final match between South Africa and England: David Davies\/PA <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the reason I decided not to continue coaching at international level. We started chatting about that. I\u2019m enjoying the club, I\u2019m getting stimulated, the players are brilliant, they challenge you, I love the club, the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I miss South Africa. I coached the Boks to two World Cups. So just because I enjoy coaching Leinster players, it does not mean now I don\u2019t enjoy the players of South Africa. I still love them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey died for me when I was coaching them, just as the Leinster players die for me when I am coaching them now. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t enjoy South Africa, I love South Africa, but I am working at Leinster, and I am giving everything to Leinster.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a candid exchange, Nienaber explained there can only be so much certainty in coaching and that the vagaries life in the sport occasionally force people to take a different course of action, which he stressed is not disloyalty.<\/p>\n

There are get-out clauses in his contract with the IRFU allowing both sides to exercise such an option before 2027.<\/p>\n

Nienaber also recalled the impact Anthony Foley\u2019s death in 2016 had on his outlook. The 42-year-old father of two, who was in staying in the room adjacent to Nienaber ahead of the province\u2019s game against Racing 92, died in his sleep of an acute pulmonary edema.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself and Rassie came over in 2016 to get passports,\u201d said Nienaber. \u201cThat was our plan; five years, get Irish citizenship and our kids can study here. We were too young to take over the Boks. The platinum prize would be to take the Boks to the 2027 World Cup. <\/p>\n

\u201cThen we would be over 50. There hasn\u2019t been a coach to win a World Cup under the age of 50. That was our reasoning.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, on the 16th of October in 2016, Axel Foley passed away, and that hit me like a ton of bricks in the face. You can plan your life ahead, but then life happens. And my words were, \u2018you only have now\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Foley and Jacques Nienaber ahead of a Pro12 game between Munster and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in October 2016. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the opportunity came to go back to South Africa, we said okay. This is my pathway and this is how I am mapping out my life. I can\u2019t tell you what the future will hold because I\u2019ve learned that. I\u2019ve mapped one out, and it just doesn\u2019t work like that in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nienaber also recalled how, when he first arrived in Ireland there were suspicions that he and Erasmus were on a mission to learn all they could about Ireland to inform the Springboks for the following World Cup.<\/p>\n

It was, he said, a take that dovetails with his current view that people have questioned his probity on commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think this is the master plan \u2013 Rassie and Jacques, let\u2019s go and win the World Cup,\u201d said Nienaber. \u201cWe\u2019ll send you to Leinster, you get all the information, you come back. I mean, it\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying I\u2019m a saint in any way, but I feel people don\u2019t trust my integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nienaber was asked straight out if he would be with Leinster until the last year of his contract in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they don\u2019t fire me, yes. Yeah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacques Nienaber cleaned house on Monday at Leinster\u2019s training ground in UCD. The two-time World Cup winning Springbok…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32728,42,28576,11287,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-171239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-champions-cup","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-jacques-nienaber","11":"tag-leinster-rugby","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}