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'No comment at this stage' - Prem club clam up on RG Snyman as new hat thrown in ring

RG Snyman of South Africa warms up during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Gold Final match between New Zealand and South Africa at Stade de France on October 28, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Franco Arland/Getty Images)

Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan has clammed up on speculation linking Springbok lock RG Snyman to a transfer to the club, while a new bidder appears to have entered the ring.

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Rumours have been rife in recent weeks around the future of the giant South African forward, who is currently playing his rugby with Munster in the URC.

While he had a starring role for the Boks during the recent Rugby World Cup escapades, his time in Ireland has been sadly marked by injury upon injury. Munster have stated that they will be keeping just one of their two Springbok locks, with newly minted Bok Jean Kleyn last month being revealed as the second row that the Irish province has nailed down.

Van Graan was quizzed on the reports in France from L’Equippe which have Snyman signing a £450,000 deal to go to Bath. While Van Graan appeared to clam up when asked about any potential deal, he didn’t go as far as denying the rumours linking Snyman to the Gallagher Premiership side.

Kevin Coughlan on X clarified exactly what was said by the former Munster head coach.

“I presume you are talking about RG Snyman,” said Van Graan when quizzed about the rumours. “He’s a player I’ve coached since his school days. I’ve coached him with South Africa and Munster. I’m never going to look at any media reports or speculation… No comment at this stage.”

However, reports coming out of South Africa have thrown the cat amongst the pigeons. According to Rapport, South African URC franchise the Stormers are keen on landing the 6’9 wrecking ball, after both the Bulls and the Sharks balked at the hefty price tag for ‘The Viking’.

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Backed by new equity partners Red Disa Investments, it’s been reported that the Stormers are prepared to cough up as much as £550,000 in order to lure Snyman back to South Africa; a huge sum by South African rugby standards.

Alongside Marble Head Investments, Red Disa acquired a 74 per cent stake in Western Province Professional Rugby – the umbrella company behind the Stormers and DHL Western Province – earlier this year.

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J
JW 19 minutes ago
'Razor's conservatism is in danger of halting New Zealand's progress'

BB didn't improve over the years, why should Jordan?


You've lost the plot of you think Love should be the fullback. That is waaay more out of leftfield than anything else I've heard.


I'm not sure Jordan can remain in the team either way. What it actually sounds like you're saying, is you want a balanced approach Jordan playing fullback next year, that he gets say 6 or 8 games through to the RC and should be looked at being in immediate contention with someone like Love, or whoever else, has played well, for the November tour.


I'm absolutely down with that. Jordan is going to have a full SR season for the first time next year, to work on facets of his game that he's never had analyzed before because of only being selected on the wing by the All Blacks. That change is huge. You can not underestimate the learning experience that this year would have been and how valuable (touch wood) and full season will be actually targeting what he felt were work ons, rather than just making stuff up or trying to improve on his strengths.


So, first of all, we should expect him to return better than how he finished, and then we'd need to see some further improvement (if it he doesn't just immediatly smash it) over July and the RC. That doesn't mean we need to see him doing what you say. He can get on great at the top level with a very limited kicking and passing game (which would be a huge improvement over BB who had a limited and innacurate kick/pass game), we need to see him comfortable with he can do in making the right decisions first and foremost. So I'd be very happy to see him working on his strength in contact under high balls and covering the backline, not see him kicking the ball down defenders throats, and trying more interplay on his returns. What I can't see, is him improving as a right winger. All his wing player success is in the style of a fullback. Probably only pure speed (working really hard to get his body/speed back to 100) would help him imo, and that's obviously a hindrance to his chances as a fullback.


TLDR; I think the poor counter attacking ability of the All Blacks has been one of the key reasons their standards have dipped over the years, and what you're suggesting is promoting that continuing. No thanks. This is not a discussion of specific players like you're making out, but of your mentality of the ABs essentially continuing with the dual playmaker setup.

219 Go to comments
O
OJohn 1 hour ago
Will overseas selection make the difference for British and Irish Lions?

The trouble with appointing a coach from one state that is not the Tahs, is that the p.... at the Tahs will start weedling away immediately on ways to undermine the non Tah coach.


It's what the private school toffs do. They have a born to rule mentality, even tho they are complete failures. That is why they will only tolerate Tah coaches or weak kiwis they know they can control. A kiwi on a million Australian dollars a year will do anything the largest franchise in Australia tells him to do. He's only here for the money.


That's why Ewen McKenzie was the ideal candidate, even tho Hooper and Beale still set out straight away to undermine him to get Cheika installed but the next best alternative is to have a group of coaches from some of the franchises, except the Tahs, (not the Western Force with kiwi Cron - who is hopeless), to keep the Tahs in their place. The Wallabies must also not have more than 3 Tah players in the squad. Otherwise they will start scheming again under instruction from the NSW administration. The Tahs have spent the last 20 years undermining the Wallabies to get more players than they deserved in the squad. Their NSW egos are more important to them than the Wallabies.


I can't see why a triumverate of Super Rugy coaches can't coach the Wallabies too. I could include MacKellar in there as well but he has shown himself to select on favoritism rather than ability based on the ridiculous number of sub standard Brumbies who got a game under Rennie. He's not much of a Queenslander but the Tahs will stab in the back in a flash too eventually.

74 Go to comments
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