The Jacques Nienaber interview: The 'beauty' of a zero sum game

A broad smile broke across the face of Jacques Nienaber when the defence guru was asked about Ireland keeping Italy scoreless last Sunday.

"I thought it was beautiful, I texted the lads afterwards. I just said that 'zero' does look beautiful," he said.

The South African, who joined up with Leinster last November, was beaming.

Leinster put their 'senior coach' up for media duty on Monday and it’s always time well spent.

The 51-year-old who, alongside Rassie Erasmus, won back-to-back World Cups with the Springboks, is open and engaging and always willing to give his two cents.

In a wide-ranging interview, the former Stormers and Munster assistant was asked about new trends in rugby, calling a scrum from a mark, if there was anything to be learned from American Football defence, working with the young guns at Leinster and how he sees Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery settling in in their new roles.

He also spoke about how his famed "14-week" time frame to get a new system in place, working with Sam Prendergast and what he expects from today's visitors to the RDS, Benetton, as Leinster bid to stay top of the URC standings.

Last Sunday, defences were on top in the first half of the Super Bowl and Ireland 'nilled' Italy. Did you ever study American Football or other sports from a defence coach viewpoint?

Jacques Nienaber: "Michigan State [Wolverines] came to South Africa [in 2019] and I spent some time with them, a day or two with their coaches.

"It's so different. The wide receivers and the defenders and the tactics that they use and the type of tackles. Some of them will tackle just with their head, try to get their heads through the ball type of thing.

"I know there are some coaches that have transitioned into NFL and trying to teach