Jacques Nienaber accepts criticism after shock Leinster loss in Champions Cup

The former Springbok boss - widely credited with helping to engineer the Boks' back-to-back World Cup triumphs - has brought a new edge to Leinster's defence since his arrival in 2023.

But last weekend's semi-final defeat in Dublin has seen Nienaber face criticism along with head coach Leo Cullen. The Irish side had entered the clash riding high, having shut out both Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors in dominant fashion, but they failed to pitch up against the Saints - particularly on the defensive front.

"As a group, we feel that we should have been better defensively," Nienaber told reporters.

"We had the potential to be a lot better... that's the disappointing part. What is our potential in defence? I think it's a lot better than the one that we did deliver.

"When you lose, you have meetings to figure out why. When you win, you have parties. That's the beauty of sport.

“The thing that probably hurts the most is the fact that I think.. the players have full control, but as coaches, we have some control because we have half-time, substitutions and that,” he added.

"For the fans, they don't have control. The only thing that they can give is their full support, [so] I can understand the frustration and the anger.

"That's probably the thing that sickens us the most, for ourselves, the performance we put in.

"Unfortunately, the fans have to live with that, the result we got, which wasn't what we wanted."

Leinster have also faced questions on their team selection, which included leaving All Blacks star Jordie Barrett on the bench for the majority of the match, and Nienaber accepted scrutiny from fans and pundits considering the final result.

"There's a lot of thought that goes into team selection. It's not a 10-minute conversation," Nienaber said. "Because we lost, people will say: 'That's bull****'. That's how it works."

Leinster also had an opportunity to go for posts in the final seconds and force extra time. Instead they opted to go for it at the line only to be denied.

"In hindsight, should we have gone for the posts? Maybe. Because we lost, you tend to say maybe we should have," the former Bok coach added.

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