After famously winning the World Cup with the Springboks last year, Jacques Nienaber opted to further his career at Leinster, where he replaced Stuart Lancaster as a senior coach.
Leinster are currently top of the URC log, with Nienaber having made an instant at the Irish club, where he has received high praise from players and coaches alike.
Although the World Cup winning coach is currently committed to Leinster, it has been reported that he could be roped back in by the Springboks as soon as 2026, when some fans hoped he could reprise a key role ahead of the next global showpiece.
During an interview this week, though, Nienaber said he was extremely happy with his current job position, prompting a few sensational headlines that implied there was no chance of him returning to the Springboks.
“I like the development that I’m currently, as a coach, experiencing and the stimulus that I’m getting currently at club level,” he commented. “That’s why I wanted to leave international from a coach point of view. To just get exposure again at club level, because it’s different.”
He added: “I do miss it [Test rugby] in the one sense, but if you ask me ‘do you want to go back there now?’ No, I don’t want to go back there.”
After spotting a few misleading headlines after making those comments, Nienaber took to social media in order to clarify his position.
“Hey guys – I was asked yesterday in media about life at Leinster and being a club coach day to day… but headlines can be misleading,” he wrote on X. “It is absolutely the right time for me, my family and my coaching journey, and being tested daily, to be here now.
“But that is not to dismiss what I did before now, what I loved to do before now or to dismiss what might come down the line. But for now, I am happy here at Leinster. My full quotes reflect that. Not the headlines!”
WHY NIENABER LEFT THE SPRINGBOKS
Previously, Nienaber recently shed further light on what led him to step away from the Springboks.
“I just felt I had lost a lot of time with my family. That’s why the decision was made between January and February,” Nienaber explained.
“My wife said, ‘Listen, I don’t think we can do another four years of this.’ The kids said, ‘Dad, we need you at home,’ and that’s why when the opportunity came up again with Leinster, I was nervous because I didn’t want to lose that cutting edge being challenged. I didn’t want to lose that because I feel that makes you a good coach.”
“That’s why this job for me was a perfect fit, I’m going to be challenged as a coach tremendously. There’s going to be big expectations, but at least I have some family time as well.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE WORLD CUP-WINNING COACH BACK WITH THE BOKS ONE DAY?
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