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‘It’s 100 per cent a big motivation’ - RG Snyman aiming to leave Munster on a high

The fit-again Springbok hopes to help Munster to back-to-back URC titles before he departs for Leinster

Munster’s RG Snyman signs autographs for supporters after the URC game against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. Photograph: Christiaan Kotze/Steve Haag Sports/Inpho

Johnny Watterson
Tue May 7 2024 - 19:15

Leinster-bound RG Snyman is walking a fine line and doing it very well. Following Munster’s successful trip to South Africa, where they thrust themselves into the contenders end of the United Rugby Championship (URC) with back-to-back bonus-point wins, Snyman is aware of his imminent break up, but still faithful to the vows he made with Munster.

The South African World Cup-winning lock is committed to winning the URC league title again and in doing so would gladly help thwart the ambitions of the team is set to join over the summer. He knows it. Munster fans know it and they have been gracious to the 6′ 9′' Springbok lock.

“It is what it is,” says Snyman. “I expected things to go a certain way. But I must say the people have been really nice about it and guys around the building have been very professional about it.

“When I bump into people on the street, they’re very understanding of the situation. So, I guess I’ll say it’s been very understanding from everyone.”

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Snyman is five games back with Munster after injury and three tries to the good in that time. Remarkable, as Munster prepare to face Connacht this weekend in Thomond Park, he has not played in a derby match since his debut at the Aviva Stadium in August 2020, when he was injured for the first time.

He joined Munster in the summer of that year, having featured in every game of South Africa’s successful 2019 World Cup campaign. What he brought was an athletic ability, ball handling with offload skills and a dominant presence in the lineout.

But the knee injury suffered at the Aviva ruled him out until the following year before an accident at a Munster barbecue required a skin graft and another spell on the sidelines. That wasn’t the end of bad luck and surgery with a chest/shoulder injury picked up at the World Cup in France leaving Snyman grateful for a much anticipated return to playing.

In all he has played 15 times for Munster in almost four years and is more than fired up for the closing sequence of matches.

South Africa’s RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn celebrate after the Rugby World Cup final win over New Zealand at Stade de France. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

“It’s 100 per cent a big motivation,” he says. “Especially after doing it last season, so to go back-to-back in the URC would be brilliant. It’s obviously the last bit that I can contribute to Munster.

“So as committed as I’ve been since the day I’ve got here, I just didn’t have the opportunity. It’s almost all of the chances I’ve missed, that I’m trying to put into the opportunity I do have now.”

It’s instructive to understand that Munster opted for Springbok Jean Kleyn when they were faced with two non-Irish qualified locks. Both were South African 2023 World Cup winners. One had to go and it was, for a number of reasons, Snyman that ended up signing with Munster’s bitter rivals.

Snyman says his body is feeling good and with each match he is getting stronger. His last two-week break in April was due to a viral illness. The psychological aspect of again playing with the team and heading into an end of season run is also a welcome change. Munster have a maximum of six games remaining if they make it to the URC finals on June 22nd.

“Yeah 100 per cent it [body] keeps getting better every week as well, so yeah it’s just great to get out there with the guys,” he says. “Now we’ve had a good run of games, the time in South Africa we used really well, and referred back to what we did in South Africa last year.

“It was the thing that kick-started our season last year. We tried to do something similar this season, and I think we ended up doing very well over there. It was just a great time for us to be together for the two weeks over there and spend some more time together. I think we took a lot of confidence from that.”

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson is a sports writer with The Irish Times

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