A one-in-a-million kind of coach – this was how Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber was depicted after leading the Springboks to a second successive World Cup victory.
In a post-match press conference, captain Siya Kolisi praised Jacques for his unwavering support that goes all the way back to Siya’s youth ranks.
“The coaching staff has been ridiculous. I have worked with Jacques since I was 17 years old. I couldn’t tackle. When he and Rassie used to come to training it was full contact.
“You had to show that you could do this. We grew up around him – me and Frans [Malherbe], Steven Kitshoff and Pieter Steph. We all played under Jacques. As I said last week, he cared about us as people. He took us further. He asks me, ‘Are you going to let your daughter down, your son down?’ It became far deeper than a rugby game.”
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Rassie and Jacques have had an impactful effect on many of the current world cup champions’ careers, after starting out as a physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach he later gained more responsibility by joining Rassie as a defence coach at the Stormers in 2008.
Together the pair formed a strong combination and have worked together at Stormers, Munster, as well as the Springboks after having initially met in the army.
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Furthermore, the victory was Jacques’s final match as the Springbok head coach, he will be starting his new journey as coach of Irish club, Leinster.
Siya later ended his words of thanks by saying that the team honours Jacques and that they hope he is proud of them.
“They will be lucky to have you wherever you go,” he said.
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