Defensive coaching specialist Jacques Nienaber has joined the Springboks as a consultant, Springbok management announced on Tuesday.
Nienaber, 38, the defence coach of Western Province and the Stormers, has been released by his union to work as part of the Springbok management on a short-term basis. Nienaber joined the Springbok squad with the rest of the management on Monday.
“We all know the importance of defence at Rugby World Cup tournaments and we had long planned to bring in a defence specialist to add to our coaching team,” said Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, on Tuesday.
“We have wanted to add Jacques for a while and I’d like to thank Western Province for releasing him to us on a short-term basis.”
Nienaber has helped establish the Cape Town union’s teams as some of the most defensively efficient in Southern Hemisphere rugby. The Stormers conceded the fewest tries in Super Rugby in each of the past two seasons, a feat duplicated by Western Province in the 2010 and 2009 Absa Currie Cup campaigns.
