This week, the former openside flanker has turned his schemes on Otago.
He is part of the Canterbury coaching staff, and their job is to help the team retain the Ranfurly Shield.
History is firmly on Canterbury’s side.
They have thwarted Otago in 13 of the 14 challenges in Christchurch.
Lentjes knows what it is like to head to Christchurch and leave with only disappointment and regret to hold aloft.
The former Otago captain played in the 2017 challenge.
Otago were in the second-tier Championship. Canterbury were the form side in the Premiership and went on to win the competition that year.
But the shield has a way of lifting the underdog.
Otago winger Jona Nareki gathered in a grubber kick and sprinted 60m on an angled run to the try line to give his side a 24-20 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
They still had their noses in front right up until loosie forward Jed Brown muscled over with a few minutes to play.
"I do remember Jona scoring that try," Lentjes said.
"[It felt like] he went about 80m because I was trying to chase him and I was a mile behind him.
"But I also remember [Brown] scoring with, like, two minutes to go, which was pretty heartbreaking.
"We were obviously well in that game and probably had an opportunity to close it out, but couldn’t manage to do so.
"Weirdly enough, I was on the other side of that in the game on the weekend where we managed to score in the 83rd minute to keep it."
Tasman had one hand on the shield on Sunday, but Otago-born hooker George Bell crashed over deep in injury time to help secure a last-gasp 31-25 win.
George will be packing down against older brother Henry tomorrow.
The Bell family will have split loyalties, but there are no mixed emotions for Lentjes.
He played 62 games for Otago between 2014 and 2022, and 68 for the Highlanders between 2015 and 2023.
"I loved my time down there and I’ve got a lot of respect for the people down there. There’s still some guys going to be playing this weekend that I played with, which is awesome, so I’m looking forward to catching up with
them.
"But I’m fully committed to our team to keep the shield."
