Springbok defence to tighten up

The Springboks have secured the services of defensive coaching specialist Jacques Nienaber, who has joined the squad as a consultant on a short-term basis ahead of the World Cup.

Nienaber, 38, has enjoyed great success as the defence coach of Western Province and the Stormers, with the latter (Super Rugby side) boasting the best defensive record in the competition this year.

Nienaber has finally been released by his union to work as part of the Springbok management who clearly need some help shoring up the national teams defensive system after the side conceded 11 tries in their two games on their Tri-Nations away leg.

"We all know the importance of defence at Rugby World Cup tournaments and we had long planned to bring in a defence specialist to add to our coaching team," said Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.

"We have wanted to add Jacques for a while and I'd like to thank Western Province for releasing him to us on a short-term basis," he added.

Nienaber, a close ally of the Boks' technical advisor Rassie Erasmus, has helped establish the Cape union's teams as some of the most defensively efficient in southern hemisphere rugby.

The Stormers conceded the fewest tries in Super Rugby in each of the past two seasons, a feat which was duplicated by Western Province in the 2009 and 2010 Currie Cup tournaments.