RG SNYMAN’S CROKE Park performance against former club Munster was lauded by Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella on Monday’s edition of Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42.
“I don’t think there’s any player in the world who can do what RG Snyman does,” Jackman said.
“Eben Etzebeth is a phenomenal player, but Snyman is different. He brings a different skillset. He actually has loads of errors in his game because of his desire to offload, so it can obviously work against him. But when it sticks, he can do things that others can’t do.
“There was real intent to his performance. He was revelling in this opportunity to come up against Munster and that’s a show of respect to close friends, not disrespect from him to Munster.
“Obviously there’s been a lot of criticism of him from fans, but I don’t think he’s actually got any blame in this. The man was told there was no contract for him. It’s almost a compliment to Irish rugby that he still wanted to stay. He was chopped from one team and has taken up an offer with another.
“It’s great to be able to keep players like him in Irish rugby. Obviously, if you’re a Munster fan you’re going to be upset about it.
“I think he’s going to be on the bench more than he plays. if Joe McCarthy is fit, I think Leinster will go with McCarthy and James Ryan. But to have him there to come off the bench or start if one of them is injured, it’s an incredible luxury.
“The try that he scores, that’s what he has the capacity to do. I know you can say ‘Aw, he’s up against a prop and a scrum half there and Leinster have been on the front foot’, but that still takes scoring.
“There’s a lot of locks, international locks, who won’t score that try. That could be the key difference in a knockout game. So, he’s an incredible recruit for Leinster. Obviously, they have to be lucky that he stays fit and Munster had no luck there.”
The 42’s Murray Kinsella added: “The clear out that he made on Tom Farrell just before his try was such a dominant moment. Then the bit of skill from him in the line-out which we’ve seen from him before, but it’s still a rare enough sight that one-handed grab.”
“It’s so difficult to do and it looks easier than it is to do. It was a phenomenal bit of skill to pluck the ball out of air. And he hasn’t even really got going with his offloading. I know the Leinster players, the likes of James Lowe, are very excited to start popping up and getting on his outside shoulder to get a few of them offloads.
“He’s going to be a serious weapon.”
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