MUNSTER ARE HOPING that South African RG Snyman has only suffered a short-term interruption in his recovery from injury.

Snyman will undergo surgery this week after suffering another knee injury, but initial pre-operation reports suggest it is not connected to the ACL injury that knocked him out of action eight minutes into his Munster debut, and a ‘minor procedure’ will only postpone his return by a number of weeks.

Another difficult lay-off could jeopardise Snyman’s hopes for featuring in this summers Lions Tour for South Africa.

“He was training and rehabilitating, he has done a couple of things with me defensively and then also some agility stuff. He was literally just running and he felt something in the knee that wasn’t right and then stopped,” said Munster defence coach JP Ferreira.

“The doctors assessed him and took him to the specialist. He’s got his operation in the week and then the medics will obviously assess him and we will take it from there.

“It’s not great news, but he has got a strong will and a strong mind, so it’s just something that has come along in his path. Hopefully he can get rid of it as soon as possible.”

After his high profile switch to Munster on the back of a victorious World Cup campaign, much was expected for second row Synman, but he sustained his original injury jumping at his first lineout for Munster in their August clash with Leinster.

After spending nine months recuperating and rehabbing his injury, Snyman has had to press pause on his comeback, which Ferreira sympathises with.

“It is tough on him and he knows it is tough on him as well. I have spoken to him, he is hanging in there to the best that he can.

“But look, he has got to go through it, he has to hang in there, (we) rather do it this way than getting out on the pitch and playing another seven or nine minutes and getting injured again.

“He just has to hang in there, we are all behind him.”

Following their convincing 27-3 win over Leinster at the RDS two weekends ago, Munster host Ulster on Friday at Thomond Park, where they will seek to maintain their perfect start tot the Rainbow Cup.

Prop Dave Kilcoyne is excited to add to his two starts for Munster in this inter-pro, but having spent much of this season sidelined too, he can relate to Snyman’s issues.

“It’s gutting for RG. He has worked incredibly hard to get to where he is. This is a setback for him but he is a resilient character,” said Kilcoyne.

“Even seeing him around the place, he will be all right. The lads rally around him and lift the mood because I am sure he is going to be down for a few days.

“But as I said, he is a resilient character and I’m sure he will bounce back.”

He continued: “I haven’t seen him too much, I think he’s up in Santry today. But as you can imagine, it’s gutting for any player, coming back from injury and you get these setbacks.

“In the grand scheme of things, he has been out for so long, but this is a minor setback for him.

“He will target this as a window to get more strength and conditioning into him. He was targeting these last few games obviously, but he is just going to have to change his window of when he gets back.”

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