Leo Cullen hasn’t been the only Leinster coach heavily criticised for Saturday’s spectacular Champions Cup elimination by Northampton, as Jacques Nienaber has also been sharply rebuked.

The Irish province was heavily tipped to advance to their fourth successive final, but this expectation that they would be running out in Cardiff on May 24 was scuppered by their 34-37 Aviva Stadium loss to the visiting Saints.

The defeat was the first time since the January 2016 10-51, six-try pool stage hammering at Wasps that Leinster had conceded five tries in Europe and the recriminations were immediate.

Head coach Cullen had his reputation shredded online, with numerous fans calling for him to be sacked rather than continue at Leinster where he is contracted until the summer of 2027.

Mainstream media also didn’t pull their punches. For example, Cullen awoke on Monday morning to this damaging Irish Times headline: “Leo Cullen under scrutiny after Leinster loss to Northampton”.

“F*** knows why Nienaber persists with it…”

However, fans disgruntled by Leinster’s failure to stay in the for their first Champions Cup title since the 2018 final win over Racing 92 in Bilbao also aimed at defence guru Nienaber, the South African who helped the Springboks to back-to-back Rugby World Cup triumphs.

Nienaber’s first European campaign as the senior Leinster coach under head coach Cullen ended in an extra time defeat in the 2024 final versus Toulouse in London, but expectations that the Irish side would learn from that setback and do better in 2025 came unstuck at the semi-final stage.

The Nienaber defence had drawn compliments for the way it shut out Harlequins and Glasgow, preventing those teams from scoring any points in the respective recent round-of-16 and quarter-final fixtures, but the defensive approach under the South African was massively criticised on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, following Northampton’s five-try ambush.

Conor Furlong: “Removing Cullen but leaving Nienaber there would make little to no difference. Doing that could actually make it worse if they were to go even further down the Nienaber rabbit hole. My preference is removing Nienaber and getting Lancaster back… Nienaber is not interested in playing with the ball. Lancaster was. Nienaber is the problem. They have been a shadow of the team they were – because of him.”

Lord Lurgan: “Nienaber’s defensive system torn a second one, thank God, and that’s coming from a Leinster fan. Now we can go back to something that suits our overall attacking style. When that system goes wrong it goes haywire big time.

Eugene Doogan: “Not sure Nienaber was the answer. Seems to have killed some of the Leinster creativity. Worried with the decline of the other three provinces, and the inability of Leinster to win the Heineken again. Are we on the slide?”

Karl Brophy: “Nienaber’s defence (and Leinster’s lack of pace in scramble compared to SA) was found out when Saints were able to go through a few phases and back their skills.”

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Dman: “F*** off Jacques Nienaber. You were supposed to fix the defence. You didn’t. But you destroyed our attack. F*** off.”

The Duke 1977: “Leinster are pathologically unable to finish off big games that are close in the dying minutes. Doris poor captaincy. The Nienaber ‘Bomb Squad’ acquisition policy exposed, and the Johnny Sexton ‘shepherding Leinster players into the Lions’ project looks woefully misjudged.”

Responding to a post on X highlighting Leinster had a tackle success of just 58 per cent, Coolprof wrote: “Not blaming Nienaber but their defence was definitely not good.”

Endo My Tether: “The system they played with fast wingers and strong defensive centres doesn’t work with Leinster. F*** knows why Nienaber persists with it when it doesn’t fit his team. Jordie Barrett fits that system more than anyone too, which makes it even more baffling a decision.”

RugbyJosh20: “This Nienaber defence doesn’t work. Get rid of him.”

Dai Davies: “Nienaber is hugely overrated. Just lucky he’s coaching the best players in the world with SA. He has been shown up in this crunch game.”

Greg O’Broin: “Not good enough. Jordie a spectator for 1/2 game – bad decision and bomb squad mentality. Building a lead is preferable. Too often Saints broke tackles to gain a metre or two. Lineout was poor and rolling maul failed. Nienaber defence doesn’t suit. We have lost pace.”

Damien Lynch: “Nienaber’s defensive system was dismantled by Northampton. They did their homework excellently and the well-drilled players executed. That led to the disastrous defensive statistics more than any individual player mistakes or lack of hunger. Fair dues Northampton.”

Adrian Slabbert: “Leinster win and Nienaber and the rest of the coaching staff get the plaudits. Got to be criticism of the same coaches, including Nienaber following the loss. That’s the game!”

Capernosity&Function: “Leo Cullen’s race is run. Almost all the best Irish players, pots of money and world-class imports and it all falls apart again. Nienaber isn’t the answer either.”

Jake Broc: “Hard to defend the Nienaber way without real pace out wide Leinster and Ireland lack it.”

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TVPC: “Nienaber is clearly the problem. Damn South Africans.”

Ollie Sinnott: “Leinster didn’t win because they were not good enough to beat a better team on the day. Saints are a team on the up, Many of the Leinster team look slower and older now. They failed to bully them on the scrum and the much vaunted Nienaber defence was ripped apart by Saints.”

Wayne Byrne: “Not sure Barrett could have solved the broken field attack Northampton have brought to the table. Nienaber’s defensive system being pumped at will.”

Ragnar Van Tonderson: “Surely they will blame Nienaber, that episode is already loading.”

Unlike the one-sided critical narrative that ignited online around head coach Cullen, the criticism of senior coach Nienaber received some pushback with a number of fans absolving him of blame for Leinster’s exit.

Stephen Lowrie: “Apparently this loss is purely down to Nienaber and RG Snyman, according to the Irish rugby press (nothing to do with the Irish tendency to choke)?

Governator99: “They’re blaming Nienaber now. Nothing but scintillating praise for his defence since he joined, the arrogance on display when talking about holding teams to zero. Then, like a switch, they round on him. How very on brand.”

Pseudo Moi: “Nienaber’s entire system and philosophy is predicated on his players giving a s***. Give Nienaber 15 Saffers and that defensive system keeps out everything, as evidenced by two WC campaigns. But the players have to actually run and actually tackle and actually care, and not actually freeze and actually choke.”

BokScrum” “I just feel sorry for RG Snyman and Nienaber. They didn’t agree to this when coming to Leinster.”

Rhymes with Ruck: “Nienaber was only responsible for the defence. Leinster can’t put this all on him.”

KG: “Cue the Nienaber blame game. Whenever they lose he is the first to cop it from pundits and podcast ‘experts’. Come home, Jacques. We appreciate you here.”

READ MORE: Leo Cullen accused of ‘wasting talent’ by upset Leinster fans who are ‘sick listening to his excuses’

Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/fans-accuse-jacques-nienaber-of-being-hugely-overrated-as-flak-continues-to-fly-over-leinsters-semi-final-loss