{"id":504465,"date":"2026-06-17T14:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504465\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:38:15","slug":"isa-nacewa-backs-nienaber-system-as-leinster-prepare-for-bulls-urc-final-at-croke-park-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/504465\/","title":{"rendered":"Isa Nacewa backs Nienaber system as Leinster prepare for Bulls URC final at Croke Park \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stick some Irish and South African journalists on a Zoom call ostensibly to discuss Friday night\u2019s URC Grand Final between Leinster<\/a> and the Bulls at Croke Park and see how long it takes. The answer was less than five minutes before the subject matter turned to the double World Cup-winning and current Leinster defence coach Jacques Nienaber.<\/p>\n

Revered in South Africa<\/a> for his part in two World Cup triumphs, under the umbrella tenure of Rassie Erasmus, they want him back in time for a crack at a third crown in Australia<\/a> next year. The contrarians among a select vestry of Leinster supporters are less enamoured. <\/p>\n

The latter cohort might be interested to learn a four-time European Cup-winning former captain and club icon with Leinster, Isa Nacewa, is a fan of Nienaber and his system. <\/p>\n

Speaking from his home in Auckland, Nacewa, the Leinster jersey from the European win over the Northampton Saints proudly framed on the wall behind him, stated he would liked to have played under the South African. He made the point that under regime change a team\u2019s DNA alters as part of a process. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Stuart Lancaster style of defence (during his time at Leinster) had good width, good spacing, good decisions at rucks, good line-speed, 13 in the front line and two at the back. It sounds similar to what Jacques is doing and has done. <\/p>\n

\"LeinsterLeinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber with head coach Leo Cullen. Photograph: Grace Halton\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I would have loved to have played under Jacques. I think he\u2019s incredible and I love the style of defence, the pressure it builds on teams. The real fine details might be subtly different, but overall, they (were\/are) two fully loaded front lines with a lot of line speed, just done subtly differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defensive mindset in what he brings in the detail, is an evolution. And no DNA can really stay the same when you\u2019re adding new people into an environment. It naturally evolves. When it comes to crunch time, they\u2019re (Leinster) in finals. There are other teams that would pull someone\u2019s arm off to be where Leinster are; and the Bulls are no different.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Combination of entitled fans and big-stadium fatigue sees Leinster\u2019s appeal fall sharplyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Nacewa keeps in touch and watches from afar. \u201cI\u2019ve heard the players love him, love his detail, his intent and his experience. The Leinster team and coaches, they\u2019ve always evolved as the coaching group has changed and they\u2019re always seeking new ideas from different environments. It\u2019s been part of the Leinster fabric for a long time now, and especially under Leo Cullen over the last eight years. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they\u2019re always looking for that edge. And with any coaching team, there\u2019s always an evolution and it doesn\u2019t always click first-hand. The players speak very highly of Jacques. There\u2019s often a lot of noise around what it\u2019s done to say Leinster\u2019s DNA but at the end of the day, they\u2019re still making finals and they\u2019re there at the right end of the season. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny evolution has its ups and downs. I think Jacques just added to it. The players really respect what he\u2019s brought to the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leinster\u2019s decision to let James Lowe leave also got an airing. Nacewa, in his second spell at the province, played alongside the left wing when he first arrived at Leinster, pointed out that he wasn\u2019t privy to the decision-making process but said the decision had surprised him.<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s James Lowe. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a tough one. It\u2019s interesting that he doesn\u2019t get a contract but becomes the all-time leading try scorer for Leinster (recently). He\u2019s been an absolute threat since we picked him up from the airport in Dublin … and he\u2019s helped mentor the Tommy O\u2019Briens, the Jimmy O\u2019Briens. (There\u2019s) so much influence on the club. And just a great human at the same time. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision\u2019s hard. He\u2019s been a weapon for Ireland and a weapon for Leinster, so was I surprised? Yeah, absolutely. Don\u2019t know the ins and outs of what went on. But James has obviously made the decision that\u2019s right for him and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nacewa pointed to the fact that his team-mates will want to send Lowe on his way with a final bit of silverware to mark his time at the club. \u201cThere\u2019s always that extra fire in the belly when there\u2019s someone as important to the club as James leaving. For them (his team-mates) it\u2019s about containing that emotion. James doesn\u2019t want to make a big deal of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll just want to get into a stride of things; not let it be a distraction and get into the groove of what the week is and how to build for a final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is he backing his old team on Friday night? <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re still hurting from the Bordeaux match. There\u2019s a lot on the line. I think this Leinster team has almost embraced that type of pressure. It hasn\u2019t always gone their way, but they finished the season with the URC trophy last year and I think that is the single-minded goal that they\u2019ll be going into this match with. So, I\u2019ll take Leinster by one. One\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We can\u2019t be scared\u2019: Leinster expect stern fight from raging Bulls in URC finalOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stick some Irish and South African journalists on a Zoom call ostensibly to discuss Friday night\u2019s URC Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,28576,43964,11287,28577,112,28460,14881],"class_list":["post-504465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jacques-nienaber","tag-james-lowe","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-leo-cullen","tag-sports","tag-stuart-lancaster","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504465","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=504465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}