Munster waiting on Snyman green light for Scarlets trip 

BACK IN ACTION? RG Snyman looks to have done enough to make the trip to Llanelli this Friday night. Pic: Ben Brady, Inpho 

Munster are hopeful RG Snyman will come through Tuesday’s training session to pass fit for Friday night’s resumption of their URC title defence at Scarlets.

The South African double World Cup winner is yet to play for his province this season having required surgery on a shoulder and neck injury following last October 31’s final victory over New Zealand in Paris.

The 6ft 9ins lock has since been told his contract will not be renewed at the end of this season with Munster boss Graham Rowntree forced to choose between his two Springbok second rows under IRFU player pathway rules once South African-born former Ireland international Jean Kleyn declared for the nation of his birth ahead of last year’s World Cup.

Snyman, 29, has already announced his decision to stay in Ireland and move to Leinster for next season with his current team keen to make the most of his remaining time after an injury-blighted four years at Munster in which he has made just 10 appearances.

Forwards coach Andi Kyriacou on Tuesday gave a cautiously optimistic update on Snyman’s possible selection for the trip to Llanelli.

“He's been training, he's been doing everything in training. He had a good couple of tough days working, and now we're just going to keep assessing how he's going from today,” Kyriacou said. “He should hopefully put himself in contention for being selected at the weekend.

The Munster management are also hopeful Snyman can make the same sort of impact he did when returning at the tail end of last season from the second of two serious knee injuries since joining them in 2020 to help his team win the URC title.

“He's probably our most experienced player in terms of knockout rugby,” Kyriacou said. “Two World Cups, got himself fit for the back-end of last season and our run-in, so he's just got huge leadership, and the way he speaks and conducts himself around the place is phenomenal.

“He has these great little chats with all players, young and old, and just pulls people with him. I'm expecting a lot from him over the next few months as he rounds things up here.” 

Head coach Rowntree scheduled both the Crusaders game and next week’s trip to English Premiership side Harlequins to keep his squad, minus its Irish international contingent, ticking over during the championship and Munster will be looking to build on their friendly victory over Super Rugby champions Crusaders at Cork’s Supervalu Pairc Ui Chaoimh on February 3 when they restart their league campaign.

The titleholders have struggled this season with a lengthy injury list and indifferent form in both the URC and Champions Cup but Kyriacou said the competitive break for the Six Nations had come at an opportune time for the province. the forwards coach said: “Those games pre-Six Nations, things were quite tight in those games and we definitely looked at the performances in that week off.

“We just had a look at what we can do better. A break is always good at this time in the season, and it's a long block for the lads who aren't necessarily used to that. I think some of the lads missed that week off in the October-November period.

“It's definitely been beneficial for us to take that week, recover, and a have good training week. Graham's put in the Crusaders game which was a great experience for the lads, and the Quins game a week on Friday. We're looking at trying to plug these holes in this period, to just hopefully keep the momentum going in terms of what we're trying to do performance-wise.”