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Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber has dubbed the Vodacom URC a “beautiful competition” as the two-time World Cup winner surveys the scene from the top of the table.
The man who helped guide the Boks to Webb Ellis Cup glory last October says the variety offered up by the multi-country tournament is the key to its appeal.
Leinster have secured maximum points from their opening two matches against Edinburgh and the Dragons, but Nienaber is keeping his feet on the ground as he looks ahead to Saturday’s trip to Benetton and the rest of the campaign.
“I definitely think it’s going to be more competitive than ever this season,” he said. “It’s a tough league and it’s a beautiful league.
“There’s a lot of talk in the southern hemisphere about whether Super Rugby has changed with the South African sides joining this league.
“Personally, I think it’s good for the URC in that you play a South African team that brings a type of athlete and skill-set that’s different to a Scottish team, a Welsh team, an Irish team or an Italian team.
“That’s the beauty of the league. You play so many different styles, so many different types of athletes, so many different types of skill-sets, so many different types of coaching styles, so many different kinds of surfaces and weather conditions.
“It’s tough and it’s hard, but teams are getting more comfortable with the way it is played. Look at Glasgow going to Loftus and beating the Bulls at altitude there in the final last season.
“Teams adapt and get better in how they do things, so I think that’s good.”
The new season has already brought a landmark occasion for Leinster with Ireland prop Cian Healy setting a new cap record by making his 281st appearance for the province in last Friday’s 34-6 victory over the Dragons at the Aviva Stadium.
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“How privileged were we to be part of that history,” said Nienaber. “It’s something I will tell my grandkids one day.
“I have never coached someone who has played that amount of games. It’s remarkable. Then you add on the internationals he has played and the injuries he has had to overcome in his career.
“With all that, he’s still a guy that contributes, he’s still got a good attitude. He is taking youngsters under his wing, he is taking ownership of the environment, taking ownership of his craft and distributing his knowledge to the younger guys. That’s phenomenal from him.
“We were part of history on the weekend and then for him to put in a performance like he did as well.”
Healy’s big night brought a second successive bonus-point victory, following on from the 33-31 win away to Edinburgh in round 1.
“A couple of months ago, if you had given me a contract and said if you sign this I guarantee you ten points from the first two games, I would have signed it,” said Nienaber.
“From a results point of view, that’s what we wanted to achieve. You couldn’t ask for more than 10 points. But there are a lot of things we still need to work on both on and off the field.
“We were a bit clunky at times and there were some errors. So there are a couple of things we need to fix.”
He continued: “In the first two games, we have used 33 players already and that’s testament to the squad and the competition for places.
“The tough part is building continuity and the relationships between the players. But what you want in a squad is healthy competition and we have that. It’s important to grow the base.
“We haven’t seen everybody play yet, so we will hopefully have everybody back from the Ireland tour this week, so we can introduce them into the team. We have taken a lot of good learnings out of the first two games and we just need to crack on and focus on Benetton now.
“That’s going to be another tough challenge for us over there. They get a big chunk of their squad back that has been with Italy over the summer, so that will be a proper Test match vibe for us, I would say.”
Photo: @leinsterrugby/Twitter
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