RG Snyman confirms he will choose Springboks over Munster
New Munster signing RG Snyman says he will answer his country’s call should the Rugby Championship go ahead later this year. The Championship is set to be played in New Zealand on a condensed six-week scheduled across November and December.
That would clash with some big games for Snyman’s new club, Munster, but the World Cup winner says he is already in no doubt that he will be available for South Africa’s Rugby Championship campaign.
The Rugby Championship is set to be begin on November 7 and run until December 12. Munster should have Pro14 fixtures throughout November, but the real blow would be the absence of Snyman for their opening game of the 2020/21 Champions Cup season, which is expected to be played on the weekend of December 12/13.
Munster would also have to plan without fellow Springbok Damien de Allende, who signed for the province alongside Snyman last November. The pair joined their new teammates in Ireland over the last few weeks.
In a cruel twist for Munster supporters, it was former Munster boss Rassie Erasmus who insisted that players based overseas would be eligible for selection for the Springboks, a move that proved vital to South Africa’s successful World Cup campaign in Japan last year.
Munster haven’t managed to break the Champions Cup semi-final barrier since they last won the competition in 2008, and the absence of de Allende and Snyman for the opening stages of the 2020/21 edition robs them of their two marquee signings.
Yet Snyman explained that Munster are already aware of his intention to play for South Africa, should the Rugby Championship go ahead.
“Me, personally I will (play for South Africa),” Snyman told the Irish Independent.
“There is still a lot going on to see if the games in the Rugby Championship will go ahead. (But) yes. I am lucky Munster are allowing me to play for the Springboks.”
The arrival of Snyman and de Allende keeps the strong South African flavour alive at Munster. Rassie Erasmus left his role as Munster director of rugby in 2017 to join the Springboks, guiding them to the Webb Ellis Cup last year.
Erasmus was succeeded in Munster by former Springboks forwards coach Johann van Graan, and Snyman said the opportunity to work with van Graan was the driving force behind his move from Japan’s Honda Heat to Thomond Park.
“The biggest reason I came here was coach Johann. I’ve worked with him in the past and I know the quality of coach he is,” he said.
As the northern hemisphere heads into a non-stop 12 months of rugby, @alexshawsport looks at the potential Lions tourists at each Premiership club.https://t.co/qb3AMElwPp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 4, 2020
“I haven’t worked under him that much before, even though I know him a long time. But I do know that he’s a quality coach. Speaking to anyone that has ever worked with him, it’s only positive [things that they say].
“I really enjoyed my time in Japan. From a career perspective, I thought it was a better move to come over to Munster and work under coach Johann to keep moving forward and keep improving.
“I still think I need to work on the smaller details from a technical side and working under him is great for that because he is very technical and his off-field work is very detailed.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments