Jacques Nienaber: Leinster move gives me best of both worlds

Leo Cullen does a pretty good poker face, particularly on the big weeks, but even he broke out into a roar of laughter at this afternoon's weekly press conference at UCD.

In a break from Leinster's normal schedule, the head coach was up at the top table for the first briefing of the week, but this was a one-off appearance as he sat in for the unveiling of the latest addition to his coaching ticket: double World Cup winner Jacques Nienaber.

The South African was speaking to the Irish media for the first time since landing in Dublin just over 10 days ago, ready to dive in at "the deep end", to use his words, into his latest project.

It's less than six weeks on from the Springboks' Rugby World Cup title success, a second in a row for the South Africans under the dream team of Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus.

The job titles may differ this time around, but the balance of power appears to be similar, so it was the suggestion that Cullen will be his "new Rassie" that tickled the Leinster boss, as he sat beside the new senior coach.

"We only know each other for a week and I know Rassie for 30 years so I think eventually we will get to that level," Nienaber smiled.

The 51-year-old's move to Leinster has been confirmed since last April, with Nienaber replacing Stuart Lancaster following his departure to Racing 92. It was a signing that caused shockwaves globally in rugby; very club sides in the game would have the cache to draw a World Cup-winning coach out of Test rugby, particularly when it wouldn't be a head coach or director of rugby role.

But with Test rugby pulling Nienaber away from his family for such a long period of time, Leinster represents the "best of both worlds".

"International rugby is a little bit different in terms of the