Nienaber relishing a season like no other
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Leinster's World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber says they are privileged to be experiencing a season like no other.
With the RDS being redeveloped, the Irish giants have adopted Dublin's Aviva Stadium as their temporary home.
Their three matches there so far this term have attracted crowds of 18,397 (Dragons), 20,945 (Lions) and 34,184 (Clermont) – an average of 24,509 – while their Croke Park clash with Munster in October drew a Vodacom URC record attendance of 80,468.
This weekend they are back at the Aviva, with another bumper turnout expected for the Irish interprovincial league derby against in-form Connacht.
While things have been going well for Leinster off the field in terms of attendances, they have also been going exceptionally well on the park.
They have won nine out of nine in all competitions and lead the Vodacom URC by seven points going into Saturday evening's Round 8 meeting with Connacht.
As former Springboks coach Nienaber acknowledges, these are heady days indeed. "This is a season like no other," he said. "It's such a privilege that we have.
"Some of our players would never have the opportunity to play at Croke Park against Munster. It would have been a dream of theirs.
"The same with our players getting the opportunity of playing at the Aviva. It's such a sacred ground, such an unbelievable ground.
"So we are so privileged that this year we have got, like I said, this season like no other. Even for me, as a coach, you normally only play there for Test matches.
"I believe there is going to be a good crowd this weekend, probably even a bigger crowd than we had against Clermont.
"That just shows how seriously our supporters take this interprovincial derby and we are taking it very seriously too."
Nienaber is expecting a stern test against a Connacht team who come into the game on the back of bonus point victories at home to Zebre Parma (43-12) and away to Perpignan (31-18) in the Challenge Cup.
"It's going to be a massive game for us and it's going to be a tight game," said the South African defence coach.
"If you look at Connacht, they really had two stirring performances in Europe and they will come in with a lot of confidence. They will be ready to go.
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"So it's going to be a tough game for us. We are preparing for a big one, a big night. It's not going to be 'Lets pitch up and accumulate the points'.
"It's going to be a grind. That I know. It's been small margins against them in previous games, so I don't take them for granted.
"Our preparation for Connacht won't be any different to our preparation for Clermont, for Bristol or for Toulouse in the Champions Cup final last season.
"Our programme will be the same, there will be the same amount of respect shown to any team. There is no different approach from us in terms of the amount of preparation we will put on."
Nienaber also stresses that winning can never be taken for granted and every triumph should be viewed as something special.
"You must always cherish victories because there will come a time when you don't get them and then you kind of wish that you celebrated them more," he said.
"If you look at Manchester City, things can change in a heartbeat, so you must always cherish victories because they're not a given in pro sport.
"You are the hare that others chase – you've got the crosshairs on your back. If you don't evolve in your leadership and playing style, your plans and creativity, teams are always going to catch up to you.
"If you fight on two fronts, you have to keep going, going, going."
Photo: @leinsterrugby/Twitter
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