The former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is now one of the great coaching gurus at Leinster to make their defense impregnable.
But if Nienaber was at Ellis Park on Saturday where the Lions achieved a 44-12 away win over Leinster, he would only be able to shake his head.
This kind of defense has not been seen for a long time and to put the icing on the cake, the Lions scored six tries against one of the best rugby teams and three-time champions.
Yes, it wasn’t Leinster’s best side and there were 13 changes to the side that thrashed La Rochelle in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.
But, bear in mind that Leinster, also with a squad full of academy players, beat the Lions by three points at Ellis Park last season. It shows how much the Lions have improved… if they are switched on on the day.
With their victory, the Lions temporarily moved up to seventh in the standings and a place in the play-offs began to beckon more and more.
It took the Lions just 50 seconds to catch Leinster asleep on Saturday when Morné van den Berg scored the home team’s first try. The Lions were full of adventure and explosiveness and played the ball wide. Within the first 20 minutes they were already 22-0 ahead and the blow was struck.
It was great fun!
Leinster’s youngsters were never able to recover from the blitzkrieg and although the Irish drilled deep into the Lions’ goal line in the first half, they could not cross the goal line.
They were strangled, bullied and backed down. They were absolutely graced by a brilliant Quan Horn, Edwill van der Merwe, Marius Louw, Sanele Nohamba and Van den Berg at the back.
Up front, the battle horses Willem Alberts, Emmanuel Tshituka, JC Pretorius, Francke Horn and Ruan Dreyer ran amok. They scrambled, ground, rolled and tackled.
Leinster are still top of the table, but they can’t afford to lose again because it could mean they could give up home ground advantage in the semi-final or possible final.
And then there is hard work waiting for Jacques Nienaber.
Scorers: Lions 44 (22): Tries: Morné van den Berg, Marius Louw, Quan Horn, Emmanuel Tshituka (2), Francke Horne. Goals: Sanele Nohamba (2), Jordan Hendrikse (2). Penalty goals: Nohamba (2).
Leinster 12 (0). Tries: Ciaran Frawley (2). Goal kick: Harry Byrne.
