Wales’ strongest man in 1992 says we haven’t seen the last of the 7-1 bench split. With two-time World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber arriving to Leinster for next week’s derby game against Munster, there is still some mystery to what the South African will bring. But Robin McBryde, the then 22-year-old strongman, and current Leinster assistant coach, does not discount other teams picking up on it.
Seven forwards and one back on the ‘Boks bench was one of the novel innovations of Rassie Erasmus and Nienaber that earned them the trophy in Paris last month, although even then there were doubts about whether other teams had the players to pull it off or make it a fashionable statement of intent.
McBryde was in France doing a “bit of punditry” for three of the Wales games against Portugal, Australia and Argentina and was also there with Leinster, who played Castres in pre-season, to watch Ireland.
“I’d never seen it before, no. I hope to see it again,” says McBryde of the novel bench formation. “In fairness to him [Nienaber], when you look at [Deon] Fourie, the flanker who played hooker for them, when you look at the injuries that Ireland had in that international against Scotland, you ended up with Josh van der Flier throwing the ball in.
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“Scott Penny does the same role for us here. Having that ability to play in different positions I think is key, because you look at the way the game is going with regards to yellow cards or red cards. They’re not deliberate, sometimes it’s just rugby incidents that happen. You’ve got to have the ability to be able to fill in those places, especially frontrow, because you don’t want to go down to 14 men. Uncontested scrums, you go down to 13 or whatever.
“It is unusual, but I think we’re going to see it again.”
McBryde has not met Nienaber since his appointment to Leinster following the departure of Stuart Lancaster at the end of last season. He has encountered him on previous camps. The former Welsh hooker doesn’t expect any immediate change of direction.
Nienaber’s relationship with Munster will also allow him to come in with a detailed understanding of Irish rugby and especially Leinster’s rotation policy, more hectic than other sides because of the number of players they have in the Irish set-up.
“I think it will be gradual from the outset and, in fairness, allowing him to get his feet under the table and see how things work,” says McBryde. “Obviously he is familiar with Irish rugby having had the experience with Munster. You know he is a little bit further down the road than other coaches would be but, yeah, I think Leo [Cullen] would be the man to gauge that a little bit better.
“I like the split he has got on the bench, the number of forwards he has got on there. Yeah, like I said there are going to be interesting discussions over the table over styles of play as well. Obviously, the kicking game is going to be huge and you know, even down to the different training weeks, how they are structured, the content, the length of sessions, the length of meetings. There are a lot of things to be discussed really. So, it is just a very exciting period, a very exciting place to be from a coach’s point of view, expecting Jacques to be coming in and adding his bits to what’s already going on here.”
Nienaber has already been “been dipping in and out of matches” with “certain messages and certain words, certain language.” McBryde sees him as another important voice and an opportunity for the players to gain an insight into the mind of a coach who has two World Cup medals.
This week Leinster will have more of their international players back. But without Lancaster and Johnny Sexton, it is a changed landscape. Tommy O’Brien also picked up an ankle injury last weekend and will be unavailable for selection for a number of weeks as Leinster face Scarlets on Saturday.
“You give them time to settle back in, get reacquainted with the players. You don’t rush in a million miles an hour,” says McBryde. “It’s human nature that you’re going to be disappointed initially. But there was a lot of good things at the World Cup as well and you try to tell them.”
