'I know he's a monster... the things he'd been doing in pre-season were athletically freakish'

Seven minutes of a debut and a massive season-ending injury were not quite in the script for World Cup winner and Springbok RG Snyman at his Irish club Munster.

But while the big lock starts his long road to rehabilitation from the ACL injury sustained in the 27-25 loss against Leinster last week, he may well have a new role to play at his club.

Hooker Niall Scannell hinted that Snyman would ‘mentor’ younger players while waiting to get back onto the park, sharing his World Cup experience with the youngsters in the process.

The Breakdown | Episode 31 | Kieran Read returns

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Scannell said he was impressed with how positive Snyman was after the injury and sees him playing a different role in the side.

“RG seems like an unbelievably positive guy and he just wants to contribute to the setup,” Scannell said.

“It’s probably one of those things, where personally he is trying to get over a huge disappointment, but I think that is all of our natural progression. I’m sure as he gets that op and that initial rehab in, he will start getting back involved.

“He will get a hold of a lot more things because he was probably just catching up in terms of lineout and stuff anyway. He will be out on the training park watching us and I know it’s in his nature anyway, he is going to help those (young) guys out.

“I’m assuming we are going to see a lot of that kind of input from RG going forward. He seems like he has got a great attitude.”

Scannell said he was “shocked” at how positive Snyman was, and said he would “attack” the rehab with everything within him.

“I know he’s a monster and, as we’ve seen over the pre-season, a physical freak – but he’s a young man as well, you have to recognise that,” said hooker Scannell.

“He’s come from halfway across the world and was probably very excited about putting his best foot forward for Munster, and now this has happened.

“I’m actually shocked at his outlook. He seems to be such a positive guy. We’ve only known him a few months but that’s great to see.

“He’s going to attack this. He was in the building for the first time today and we could console him, but he seems so positive.

“I just hope his rehab goes according to plan but it’s a disaster for him.

“Some of the things he’d been doing in pre-season were athletically freakish and I was just excited to see him out there in the Aviva.”

PRO14