VIDEO: 'We are not entitled to any trophies'
Leinster may be the defending champions and among the pre-season favourites.
However, they don’t expect the Stormers, or any team, for that matter, to just roll over and have their tummies tickled.
World Cup-winning former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber, the Leinster senior coach, fronted up to the media and confirmed that the bulk of their internationals are not on tour with the squad.
However, that does not mean they are not going to test the Stormers and Bulls in the next two weeks.
He said that they will continue to fight for trophies on two fronts – the United Rugby Championship and the Champions Cup (Europe).
“We always have a good crack at both competitions,” Nienaber said in a media briefing ahead of the URC season-opener against the Stormers in Cape Town on Friday.
“It is important for us, as a team and players, to understand that we are not entitled to any trophies. It is something we must work hard for,” he added.
He said they remained as determined as last year, when they finally ended a four-year trophy drought, when they crushed the Bulls 32-7 in the Final in front of 47,000 people at Croke Park.
“Because we are determined, we are not entitled to trophies.
“It is something we must work hard for.”
Nienaber said, as defending champions, it is important to get off to a good start.
With plenty of moving parts, including giving their internationals (British and Irish Lions as well as Irish players for the July Tests) an extended off-season break, getting a team ready for the Stormers is a “great challenge”.
“We have a fairly exciting start with two games in South Africa,” he said of facing the Stormers in Cape Town and the Bulls in Pretoria on successive weekends.
“Our first four games this season are against teams that featured in the play-offs last season.
“I am very excited to see where we are at this stage of the season.”
He described their pre-season and the build-up to the Cape Town trip as “very interesting, but very exciting”.
That is the strength of Leinster.
With a large chunk of their 45 contracted players – the rash of international players – away in the off-season, it gave them a chance to work with the bulk of their academy players, those at the age of 19- and 20-years-of-age.
“There was a player that worked with us after he had just finished school,” Nienaber told @rugby365com.
“There is another player with more 200 caps for Leinster.
“You have these young players who are excited to be there, like sponges and the older players who were educating them on how things work at Leinster.
“We don’t have the privilege to select our best side, but this is the best of the available players and an exciting team.”
(WATCH as World Cup-winning former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber reveals what they expect from their season opener against the Stormers and what type of squad they brought to Cape Town…..)
Nienaber expected a “massive challenge” from a Stormers team, even though the home side is not at full strength either.
“You know how few teams come over here [South Africa] and get a win at the Stormers in Cape Town,” the Leinster coach said.
“The Stormers are a very tough team, especially with the crowd they get here in Cape Town.”
Nienaber, who has just signed a contract extension that will see him stay in Dublin till mid-2027, said he is happy being in the Leinster environment.
“I felt, for my family and professionally for me, things are working at Leinster,” the World Cup-winning former Bok coach said.
It was back in December 2023 that Nienaber coached his first professional game with Leinster in an away fixture against Connacht.
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