Saints Q&A: Tom Vickers talks to scrum coach Jaco Pienaar
You can tell how popular Jaco Pienaar has already become at Saints by the amount of players eager to acknowledge him on their way to lunch.
As the affable South African sat a few rows up in the Church’s Stand to conduct this interview, various squad members made their way to the Barwell Stand for a 2.30pm feed.
And many of them gave a friendly shout to Pienaar, who broadly smiled back and gestured in a jovial manner in reply.
The mood is certainly good at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens among a group of players and coaches who have fostered a fine team spirit.
And Pienaar clearly couldn’t be happier with his decision to move to England during the summer.
Here is Tuesday’s question and answer session with the Saints scrum coach, who was evidently feeling refreshed after the bye weekend…
How did you spend your week off?
A: “I was actually back in South Africa. I went to visit my Mrs and my friends.
“I was lucky enough to get some sun, spend time with friends and family and be in a pool.
“It was something we discussed early on to say there will be a break and I am able to go home so it was amazing.
“Some coaches went for some personal development to France and then Tram (James Craig) and Radders (Lee Radford) are on international duty (with England A and Scotland respectively) and I went home to South Africa so it was different for all the coaches.”
Did it make you feel a bit homesick when you had to leave after your holiday?
A: "No, not at all!
"It was actually quite good just to see the family and friends.”
Q: How has life at Saints been for you so far?
A: “I've been enjoying it. It's been really good.
“I always wondered how Saints do certain things and how they play, and now I'm in the inner circles and able to see why they have the ability to do the things they are able to do on the field.”
Q: What have the messages been after the unbeaten start to the season?
A: “It's understanding why it's going well and to keep on doing those bits of the DNA that make the game work.”
Q: Have you been surprised by how quickly it's all come together so early on?
A: “No, not surprised.
“As a coaching team we saw the progression through pre-season, the warm-up games and everything so no, not surprised.”
Q: Have you seen the progression you were hoping for in the scrum department?
A: Yeah, definitely.
“When I arrived here, we changed a bit of the scrum system and it was interesting for me to see how certain individuals develop - young props like Sonny (Tonga'uiha) and (Oliver) Scola who got some game time in our last game.
“It's been interesting to see them fitting into the system and seeing how good they can be.
“Sonny and Scola played against Quins and we had six debutants so it was amazing to see them fitting in and applying what we've been doing since pre-season on the field.
“Sonny and Scola did really well, the scrums went well and it has been good to have the experience of players like Luke Green and Tom West to help them.
“It's one thing training and talking about it but it's about how they can adapt on the field.”
Q: How has it been seeing JJ van der Mescht, a player you know well, fitting in so impressively at Saints so far?
A: “JJ, myself, Cleopas (Kundiona) all came in new but I think the environment, which is all about how much we care about each other and how quickly everyone around us got close to us, helped us to fit in and do our job.
“It's a great group of people.”
Q: It must be nice to have not had to review a competitive defeat so far?
A: “Win or lose, there's always stuff we can do better and we see it in that light.
“But it (winning) helps!”
Q: What's the plan for the next two weeks in the PREM Rugby Cup?
A: “It's the same for this whole block. We get opportunities to play players either coming back from injury or young guys who have been around the group and haven't had a lot of game time.
“On the field, we can mix that with some older heads in the team and try to see how well we can impose our way of playing on the opponent.
“It's about trying to get it right to build into the next couple of weeks but understanding the block of games after that is going to be big.
“There's a lot of balls in the air regarding that management.”