“Jacques won’t have that.” – James Downey explains how Nienaber will change Leinster

James Downey expects Jacques Nienaber to place a huge emphasis on defence as he takes over as Leinster coach.
Nienaber, who recently led the Springboks to their second consecutive World Cup, will soon join Leinster.
Leinster’s URC season has started mediocrely without the services of their World Cup stars. They lost to Glasgow in their opening game before winning high-scoring matches against the Sharks and Edinburgh.
Although the province has performed well recently in the URC—winning three of the last four renewals—they have struggled in Europe.
Much of their hard work over the past few years has been undone by their two consecutive close losses in the European Cup final against Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle. However, with Nienaber’s arrival and his track record, Leinster fans will be hoping he can turn the fine margins in their favour.
Former Leinster and Munster player James Downey believes that Nienaber’s first move will be to concentrate on Leinster’s defense, as he stated in an interview with House of Rugby this week.
Downey asserts, “Defense wins championships.”
“Even with the greatest offensive in the world, it is invaluable to be able to keep a team out.
“And since Jacques arrived, if you consider the first-week match against Glasgow, Leinster’s defense was again quite weak against Edinburgh; they were fine for the majority of the match, but after a few substitutions, Edinburgh got back into the game.”
“That won’t go to Jacques. Since defense is an attitude, he will be focusing on the players’ attitudes, being brutal in the field, and preventing teams from scoring easily.”
With just eight tries allowed throughout the Paris World Cup, Nienaber’s Springboks more than lived up to their motto.
“Win by 40 points, that’ what he’s going to want,” Downey says.
And that will only strengthen this Leinster squad. They were down by one score going into these crucial game matchups, but he’ll make things right.
Former backrow player Sean O’Brien is in control in the meantime while they wait for Nienaber to arrive, and the Tullow man is certain that this is his way and not the Springboks’ way for the time being.
This week, O’Brien declared, “We are definitely not defending like the Springboks do.”I have explicitly stated that to the boys.
“It’s a different story whether we do that or not when Jacques comes in because we have worked really hard and scrambled really well over the last few years with our defensive system.”
This weekend, Leinster will travel to play the Dragons on the road as part of their URC campaign.