Rookie vs grand master

PROFILE | JACQUES NIENABER ROOKIE VS GRAND MASTER

WHILE WARREN GATLAND HEADS UP HIS THIRD TOUR IN CHARGE OF THE LIONS, THE SPRINGBOKS’ JACQUES NIENABER WILL BE CUTTING HIS TEETH AS A HEAD COACH

Like former Springbok coach Carel du Plessis, who went into the 1997 Lions series with all of one Test cap on his coaching résumé, Jacques Nienaber will guide the Boks into the 2021 series with very little head coaching experience.

However, the difference between Du Plessis and Nienaber is that the latter has spent most of the past 15 seasons with his boots deep in the muddy trenches of professional rugby under Rassie Erasmus.

In 2005, after serving as a physio and then strength and conditioning coach at Free State since 1997, Nienaber was called up to the Cheetahs coaching staff by old army buddy Erasmus where he steadily reinvented himself as a defence coach.

Now widely regarded as one of the game’s top defence coaches, Nienaber was responsible for building the Great Wall of Newlands after he and Erasmus traded Bloemfontein for Cape Town and powered the Stormers into the 2010 Super Rugby final.

Though Erasmus left in 2011, Nienaber had the ear of Stormers coach Allister Coetzee and together they cultivated a culture of tackling that, when deployed, was almost impenetrable – the Cape side finished the 2012 season on top of the Super Rugby table with a 14-2 record.

Nienaber then followed Erasmus to Munster in 2016 where the pair combined to turn the Irish provincial team into title contenders before heading back to South Africa to piece the Boks back together after their worst run in team history.

It was then that Nienaber switched the Bok defence to a high-speed rush, aimed at pressing hard whenever the ball is in flight, and after a bumpy start he fine-tuned it into a tool to suffocate rival teams.

While there’s no doubting Nienaber’s credentials as an expert in stifling attack, it remains to be seen how well he will adjust to the demands of being a head coach.

Accustomed to maintaining his defensive systems by barking instructions from the touchthe same time the Lions are hunting South Africa’s top franchises.

Warren Gatland, who will lead his third Lions tour in July, was head coach of Ireland when Nienaber was still massaging hamstrings in Bloemfontein – he will be keeping a close eye on the Boks in those warm-up matches, their first since hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup.

Perhaps of even more interest to the Lions head coach than the on-field performances in those Tests will be the way Nienaber takes to the coaching box, manifested in his body language, substitutions, decision-making and post-match comments.

FAST FACT

In 1991, Nienaber was stationed at 1SDB in Bloemfontein – 1 Special Battalion – when he met Rassie Erasmus, stationed at the Panzer battalion in the same air-force base

lines where he’s kneeled in a tracksuit and boots, Nienaber will now be confined to the coaching box where he’ll be seated in front of a camera in his number ones.

And where before he only occasionally was required to front the media, Nienaber will now be responsible for results and accountable to a nation that expects the world champions to kick on from the success of the 2019 World Cup.

Du Plessis was a late appointment who skipped into the first Test of the 1997 series against the Lions after a resounding win against Tonga. Nienaber’s first Test as head coach will come in a two-Test series against Georgia, to be played at

Nienaber’s first Test as head coach will come in a two-Test series against Georgia, to be played at the same time the Lions are hunting South Africa’s top franchises

Rassie Erasmus congratulates Nienaber on his appointment as Springbok coach on 24 January 2020