Jacques Nienaber urges Leinster to get out of 'hell'

RTÉ News​

10-05-2025

Senior coach Jacques Nienaber has demanded Leinster get over the "brutal" Investec Champions Cup loss in order to salvage something from their season.
Leo Cullen's men saw yet another European attempt go up in smoke last Saturday after a stunning defeat to Northampton Saints.
"We have to get over it, as much as it hurts," the double World Cup-winning coach told RTÉ Sport.
"It hurts for me because of the fans and everything they've given.
"The beauty of sport in knockout stages is it's brutal, there's going to be a winner and a loser.
"One team is going to be happy and the other is going to be in hell, for hours, days, which they need to get out of it.
"The beauty of it is we have another chance, which is this weekend against Zebre.
"That's getting honest, open answers on why and how, and find solutions.
"We can give out to each other, which we did, and we were brutally honest but at the end of the day, it's not throwing insults around.
"We must find a solution and then go onto the next challenge."
Attention now turns to the BKT URC, and a win against Zebre this evening (5.15pm, live on RTÉ News) would guarantee top seed for the play-offs.
Leinster have named nine Lions in the squad, including a return for lock James Ryan, who has recovered from a calf injury.
Defence guru Nienaber (above), whose side shipped five tries in that loss, says that having a high-quality panel is no guarantee of success.
"Having a good squad and sacrificing and having good players and having a Jordie [Barrett] and an RG [Snyman], that doesn't give us a right to win silverware, we still need to go and win it," he said.
"We can have good weeks and good training sessions, we can have good plans, bad plans, make good decisions on the pitch, bad decisions, at the end of the day that 80 minutes is the reason you will win.
"Good squads doesn't give you the right to win medals or trophies, we still need to go and perform."
Meanwhile, Leinster back row Josh van der Flier, who was included in Andy Farrell's Lions squad on Thursday, said they will go "all guns blazing" to bring home a first trophy since 2021.
"The group is incredibly hungry to be successful in the URC," said the 32-year-old former World Rugby player of the year.
"There is a bit of pain at the moment but the motivation is definitely there.
"We haven't won under the new URC format. It's going to be tough.
"It's one of the positives, a lot of competitions, like the Six Nations or another tournament [where] you don't get a chance to play for a year but we have the opportunity to go after some silverware in the next few weeks, so we'll be all guns blazing."
The Italians have won just five games all season and are out of the running for the play-offs.
Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Jimmy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath; Jack Boyle, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, Diarmuid Mangan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt).
Replacements: John McKee, Andrew Porter, Rabah Slimani, James Ryan, James Culhane, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ciarán Frawley, Robbie Henshaw.
Zebre Parma: Jacopo Trulla; Scott Gregory, Fetuli Paea, Enrico Lucchin, Simone Gesi; Giovanni Montemauri, Gonzalo Garcia; Luca Franceschetto, Giampietro Ribaldi, Juan Pitinari; Rusiate Nasove, Leonard Krumov; Bautista Stavile, Iacopo Bianchi, Davide Ruggeri (capt).