Munster confident RG Snyman will be fit to face Northampton Saints

FITNESS BOOST: Munster are confident RG Snyman will be fit to face Northampton Saints this Sunday in their Champions Cup Round of 16 knockout tie but doubts remain over Calvin Nash for the trip to England’s East Midlands. Pic Credit: Laszlo Geczo, Inpho.

Munster are confident RG Snyman will be fit to face Northampton Saints this Sunday in their Champions Cup Round of 16 knockout tie but doubts remain over Calvin Nash for the trip to England’s East Midlands.

Double World Cup-winning South Africa lock Snyman missed last Saturday’s 20-15 URC home win over Cardiff due to illness but Munster defence coach Denis Leamy said there was hope in the camp the Springbok giant would be fully recovered by the time of kick-off at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday lunchtime.

The return of Snyman would represent a huge boost for a Munster pack missing the physicality of injured internationals including Dave Kilcoyne, Oli Jager and Jean Kleyn as they seek to upset the odds against a Premiership-leading Saints side which won at Thomond Park in January in the final pool game.

Ireland wing Nash, meanwhile, is still rehabbing a knee injury that has kept him sidelined since the Six Nations win over Scotland on March 16, having been taken off after 56 minutes at Aviva Stadium.

“RG trained today,” Leamy said on Wednesday. “He had a virus over the weekend. Yeah, he was huffing and puffing a little bit but we hope he’ll be fine. Yeah, we hope he’ll be fine.

“Calvin is still too early to say. He didn’t train today and it’s still early days to say whether he’ll come through or not.”

Asked whether Nash was a 50-50 hope to face Saints, Leamy replied: “I would say so. Yeah, I would say so.” Leamy also welcomed a new contract for veteran scrum-half Conor Murray, whose one-year contract extension was announced by Munster earlier in the afternoon.

Murray, 34 and a three-time British & Irish Lions tourists with 116 Ireland caps, won his fifth Six Nations winner’s medal last month and former team-mate Leamy said: "What was obvious from the very start was the talent he had, and his ability, his calmness, his decision-making, his work-ethic and through that application of his game, he's improved and improved over the years.

"Like every player that plays well into their 30s, he's needed a little bit of luck with injury as well. Conor has had his injuries as well but he's responded well to them and come back.

"He's had a tremendous career for Munster, Ireland, the Lions, one of the best players, certainly, that I've played with, and of the last 25 years an incredible talent."