JACQUES NIENABER may have arrived from a different time zone but the South African is working overtime to get Leinster ticking.
The Blues host Connacht at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday as they return to URC action, having picked up two wins from two in the Champions Cup.
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Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber during a Leinster rugby squad training at UCD in DublinCredit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
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Leinster return to the URC after back-to-back wins in the Champions CupCredit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
The performances against Bristol Bears and Clermont-Auvergne were not flawless, but Leinster maintained their perfect start to the season, having claimed victories in their first seven URC matches.
Leinster have endured three trophyless seasons, losing the last three Champions Cup finals.
And Nienaber believes the challenge is to turn serial contenders into winners — and then keep them at the top.
The two-time World Cup-winning coach likened the performance cycle to a clock.
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He said: “If you look at all sports teams, there’s actually something they call the performance clock.
“And if you look at a clock, the top of a performance is 12 o’clock so you are always oscillating between 10 or 11 and one o’clock.
“You want to operate in that sphere. Six o’clock is rock bottom. It’s like the worst of the worst.
“And then from six to 12 is how do you build a team up and then the fall on the other side.
“So, I think you must always be mindful of not getting into the fall.
“If you look at why teams go into a freefall, I think the first thing is probably a lack of leadership where you think because you are successful, ‘We’re always going to be successful’.
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“The second one is probably when there’s an abundance of arrogance when you as a team feel, ‘I don’t have to improve my game, I’m top of my game anyway’. You don’t evolve.
“And then the last one is the lack of creativity.
“So if this is the way we do it at Leinster, this is the way we’ve always done it, this is the way we did it in conjunction with Ireland and we’ve been successful in the last six years.
“You are one of the top clubs, the hare that they chase, you’ve got the crosshairs on your back.
“If you don’t evolve in your leadership style, if you don’t evolve in your playing style, if you don’t evolve in the plans and creativity, teams are always going to catch up to you.”
FINAL COUNTDOWN
So where are Leinster now?
He added: “Twelve o’clock, you win trophies and 11 o’clock, you’re in finals and you’re there and thereabouts.
“We are playing in finals, playing in knockout games, fighting on two fronts — or trying to fight on two fronts.
“Where probably, it will definitely be easier if we decide to preference one competition above another one, and don’t try and fight on two fronts.
“We are there or thereabouts.”
The Blues have been helped in no small part by the additions of All Black superstar Jordie Barrett and Springbok RG Snyman.
But Nienaber was also delighted props Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong and lock James Ryan signed contract extensions this week.
He added: “The proud thing is whenever a player signs a contract extension it means they are not just comfortable but they are happy with what they are getting at the club.”
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