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Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber has dismissed the furore over Jaden Hendrikse’s antics, declaring, ‘it’s simply regular’ behaviour in skilled rugby.
Sharks scrum-half Hendrikse, who Nienaber has coached with the Springboks, induced a social media furore when he winked at Jack Crowley whereas being handled for cramp close to the place the Munster participant was taking his place kick throughout final weekend’s dramatic shoot-out.
This adopted an earlier tit-for-tat alternate between the pair, when, after taking the primary kick of the shootout, Hendrikse had clearly stated one thing to rile up Crowley, who clapped again earlier than taking his personal kick at objective.
The URC quarter-final had gone to a place-kicking contest after the edges had been locked at 24-24 after further time. The Sharks received the shootout 6-4 and now go on to Pretoria to tackle the Bulls in an all-South African semi-final, whereas Nienaber’s Leinster will probably be trying to take down the reigning champions Glasgow in Dublin within the different semi-final.
“It’s one thing that occurs within the recreation from minute one to minute 80,” Nienaber advised The Irish Unbiased.
“There’s banter and attempting to get below a man’s pores and skin and attempting to bodily impose your self on him and attempt to rub his hair. I imply that occurs for 80 minutes, so on this case, it was for everybody to see as a result of it’s not as secluded as what will probably be in a recreation. However it occurs in a recreation.
Nienaber then referenced the Peter O’Mahony jibe to Sam Cane throughout an All Blacks vs Ireland Check in 2022, that ‘he was only a s*** Richie McCaw’, as an additional instance of sportsmanship. Eire went on to win that recreation, however Cane had the final chortle by producing an outstanding efficiency 18 months later, when the All Blacks dumped Eire out of the 2023 World Cup.
“Consider Pete [O’Mahony], what did he inform Sam Cane? I imply, that banter flies. In case you pay attention to simply the referee mic and you’re taking the commentators away, it’s loopy what you hear on that mic. They acquired caught into one another. It’s simply regular.”
Looking forward to this weekend’s URC semi-final, Nienaber is cautious of Glasgow’s capability to activate the type in an enormous one-off recreation. Leinster have held the higher hand in latest exchanges with the Scottish outfit and are at house, however Nienaber says his workforce will probably be on full alert.
“In case you assume again to final yr, they [Glasgow] went to Munster in Thomond Park. It’s a tall order to win in Thomond Park, they usually did that. Then it’s a good taller order to fly over, go to altitude, play the Bulls, which we struggled with – we acquired knocked out the week earlier than by the Bulls,” he said.
“They went over there and acquired a end result there. The identical factor with Munster going to South Africa and doing a job on the Stormers. It’s a totally completely different recreation.
“You may be pretty much as good as you wish to and play as good rugby as you wish to within the league stage of the competitors, however the place it counts is you simply need to just remember to are a bit bit higher than the workforce that you simply play in opposition to on that particular day of a knockout recreation.”
