Josh van der Flier hails inspirational Jacques Nienaber impact at Leinster

Leinster beat La Rochelle 16-9 on December 15 and defeated Sale Sharks 37-27 on Saturday to record two impressive wins since the former Springbok coach's arrival.

Nienaber joined Leinster earlier this month after leading South Africa to a record fourth Rugby World Cup title in France earlier this year. He was also with the Springboks for 2019's Rugby World Cup title win in Japan as one of Rassie Erasmus' assistants.

"Jacques is brilliant. One thing about him, it's hard to describe it really, I find he really inspires you. I'd be going into a game wanting to defend for him. He's a really inspirational person in that way," said Irish international Van der Flier.

"The amount of work he puts in is incredible. I've had a few glimpses at his laptop when he's been showing me things and he puts a huge amount of work into defence and goes into the tiniest details.

"It's brilliant to have him in. Another part of it is he obviously brings all the experience from two World Cup-winning teams and he's got a lot of wisdom in that way as well."

Leinster will meet Munster in the United Rugby Championship (URC) on 26 December at Thomond Park in Limerick. Munster are the reigning URC champions and currently occupy fourth position on this season's points table. Leinster are sitting pretty at the top of the standings.

"I think it's a great occasion. The crowd is always on good form, always fairly fired up by the time it gets to it," concluded van der Flier.

"It's actually nice because if I'm off, I'll eat as much as I can on Christmas day - and if I'm not off you're carb-loading for the game so you also eat as much as you want for Christmas day.

"So I don't think it will affect me too much. Either way, I love playing the game, so hopefully I'll play."

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