Garry Ringrose hopes Jacques Nienaber's arrival will help Leinster overcome final hurdle
Garry Ringrose was appointed Leinster's co-captain along with James Ryan
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Leinster co-captain Garry Ringrose is hoping that the inclusion of Jacques Nienaber to the coaching panel will end their title drought.
The Irish province won four straight titles of Pro14 between 2018 and 2021 with the 2017/18 season also saw them clinch the European Champions Cup.
But since then, they were eliminated in the semi-final in the next two seasons of the United Rugby Champions Cup while were defeated in the finals of the last two campaigns of the Champions Cup with La Rochelle winning on both the occasions.
Leinster have secured the services of World Cup winning Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber as he replaced senior coach Stuart Lancaster with the latter heading to Racing 92.
“He’s won at the top. It’s what Leinster have struggled to do over the last two, three years – that final hurdle in those big games with tight margins, falling on the right side of them.
“His track record would suggest that he’s fallen on the right side. He would definitely have an insight into how to win on the big days. It will be interesting to pick his brain or see what he implements or how he challenges us.
“I don’t think we would necessarily be an easy team to play against anyway, but if he can have that impact to make us a tough team to play against or help us improve in that area, it would be massive. Hopefully on the big days we will see that.”
Leinster will be locking horns with La Rochelle in the opening game of this season's Champions Cup - the team that defeated them twice in the last two season's finals. Nevertheless, the Irish star said Leinster will not treat the encounter as a revenge game.
“There is no feeling of revenge,” said the Ireland centre. “There’s no easy match in the Champions Cup. We cannot afford to be timid or to look too far into the future. It's going to be a huge match, away, in La Rochelle. We are going to have to give everything.
“History suggests that we haven't figured out how to beat them yet, but this kind of match is decided on fine details.”
