Jacques Nienaber performed a key function throughout his stint on the DHL Stormers, and defence guru Norman Laker has acknowledged Leinster’s enchancment beneath his mentor.
The Stormers host the Irish outfit in spherical 15 of the Vodacom URC at Cape City Stadium on Saturday. John Dobson’s expenses misplaced narrowly to Ospreys at dwelling final week, whereas Leinster are additionally trying to bounce again after their youthful staff suffered a heavy defeat on the Lions.
Nienaber joined Leinster as senior coach in November, and has wasted little time sharing his experience. He’s famend for his defensive work on the Springboks and Munster, after initially serving to to forge the Stormers right into a steely unit.
Addressing the influence of the two-time World Cup winner on the Irish province, Laker this week praised Nienaber’s work whereas highlighting the previous Bok coach’s affect on his profession.
“Leinster’s defence was passive earlier than. They weren’t fast off the road and it was extra about connection. Now they’re capturing up,” the Stormers assistant coach was quoted by Netwerk24.
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“Within the recreation they misplaced towards Ulster, they went up and Billy Burns stored placing kicks behind them. They thought they’d the system labored out, however that was just the start of Jacques at Leinster.
“One may already see in Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final towards La Rochelle what Jacques’ influence is on the staff and defence.”
“Jacques arrived on the Western Province on the finish of 2007 after I was working on the institute [former Western Province Rugby Academy]. He got here there weekly to see the teaching of the U19 staff on defence. In 2010, I took over that function from him,” Laker added.
“From 2013, after I began on the WP’s Centre for Excellence with the juniors, we rubbed shoulders so much and exchanged concepts.
“When he returned to the Springboks, half of the Stormers staff was there. I subsequently thought that it might be higher to see how we might help one another quite than making an attempt to ascertain my very own system.
“I respect him extremely a lot for what he has achieved as a coach and in addition for his humanity. Jacques may simply have stored his concepts to himself. We exchanged concepts and got here up with a superb system that we each coach properly now.”
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