LEINSTER EXPECT NEW recruit RG Snyman to feature by Round 3 of the URC at the latest, while scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park has returned to full training after missing Ireland’s summer tour of South Africa.
Springbok second row Snyman has missed out on South Africa’s Rugby Championship campaign with a foot injury and returned to Dublin last week to continue his rehab.
Snyman made just 20 first-team appearances for Munster during a four-year spell in which he was almost constantly beset by injury, but Leinster head coach Leo Cullen has allayed fears that the giant lock will miss significant game-time at the start of the new campaign.
Cullen described Snyman’s foot injury as “pretty minor, thankfully”, and said that he expected Snyman to be in contention for selection with Leinster by either the second or third round of URC action.
That would mean Snyman could feature either at home to the Dragons on 27 September or away to Benetton on 5 October.
“He’s rehabbing with us at the moment,” Cullen said at a URC event on Tuesday. “He was out on the side of the pitch there. I’ve just come in from a session. He was doing a rehab run. He’s making progress.
“I’m not sure if he’ll be back for round one but hopefully by round two or three, he’ll be back for us.”
Ahead of Leinster’s season opener away to Edinburgh on Friday week (20 September), Cullen added that Ireland international scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park is “training fully now, so he should be good to go for round one hopefully.”
The picture for Leinster outside of Gibson-Park remains less clear, however, with four out-halves vying for the starting berth against Edinburgh and beyond.
Ciarán Frawley’s heroics in Ireland’s second test against South Africa led for calls for him to usurp Byrne brothers Ross and Harry, as well as up-and-comer Sam Prendergast, in the eastern province’s pecking order for the new campaign.
Frawley, however, will find himself behind the eight ball to start the season due to his summer involvement with Ireland, with the Byrnes and Prendergast free to feature for Leinster while Skerries native Frawley is reintegrated on a more gradual basis.
And Cullen said he will need to be “open-minded” about out-half selection this season with four talented players again battling it out for the starting berth in Leinster’s biggest games.
“Listen, we would probably be having a different conversation if Frawls had kicked the drop-goal when he came off the bench against Toulouse, pretty much from the exact same spot where he kicked it from in Durban,” Cullen said.
“So, yeah, Ciarán is someone accumulating experience and it’s fantastic that he puts himself in that situation again.
“So, over pre-season, we played two games. Harry started one game, Ross the other. Sam didn’t play on tour, so he got some minutes last week against Northampton.
“Listen, we’re in a good position with the four guys that we have. And yeah, let’s see how they get on. I will need to be open-minded in terms of some of the selection calls there because it’s over to them a little bit, they need to prove what they can do.
“We’re lucky that we have a good competitive group and they’ll all get their opportunities at different stages of the season, and then someone will emerge to play a key role over the course of the season.”
