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RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett headline Leinster side to take on Bulls
By Josh Raisey
South Africa second-row RG Snyman will face his former side the Bulls for the first time in Leinster colours on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld in the United Rugby Championship.
The double World Cup winner will start in the second-row in Pretoria having been on the bench in the last round of action against Cardiff at the beginning of March.
Snyman will be joined by Jordie Barrett in the starting XV, who missed the match against Cardiff. The All Black will start at inside centre against a Bulls side that sit third in the URC standings, 16 points behind the unbeaten Leinster at the top.
The pair will not be joined by Ireland's Six Nations contingent, however, who have been rested by Leo Cullen after finishing their campaign last week.
The South African will line-up against a number of his Springbok team-mates, including full-back Willie le Roux.
Speaking ahead of the match, Leinster coach Jacques Nienaber said he is expecting "Test match-like intensity".
“The Vodacom Bulls are a star-studded side," he said. "The squad that Jake has built is a full-on international squad, bar one or two positions and even those positions, they are not too far off the radar of the national selectors.”
“It will be a Test match-like intensity kind of match, that is what we expect.”
Leinster Rugby (caps in brackets)
15. Jimmy O’Brien (93)
14. Tommy O’Brien (39)
13. Hugh Cooney (4)
12. Jordie Barrett (6)
11. Andrew Osborne (9)
10. Ross Byrne (178)
9. Luke McGrath (225) (captain)
1. Jack Boyle (19)
2. John McKee (32)
3. Rabah Slimani (14)
4. RG Snyman (13)
5. Diarmuid Mangan (8)
6. Max Deegan (126)
7. Will Connors (54)
8. James Culhane (14)
Replacements
16. Stephen Smyth (3)
17. Ivan Soroka (1)
18. Thomas Clarkson (50)
19. Brian Deeny (33)
20. Alex Soroka (13)
21. Scott Penny (80)
22. Fintan Gunne (10)
23. Ciarán Frawley (95)
Bulls XV
15. Willie le Roux
14. Sebastian de Klerk
13. David Kriel
12. Harold Vorster
11. Stravino Jacobs
10. Keagan Johannes
9. Embrose Papier
1. Alulutho Tshakweni
2. Akker van der Merwe
3. Wilco Louw
4. Ruan Vermaak
5. JF van Heerden
6. Marcell Coetzee (captain)
7. Jannes Kirsten
8. Cameron Hanekom
Replacements
16. Johan Grobbelaar
17. Jan-hendrik Wessels
18. Mornay Smith
19. Reinhardt Ludwig
20. Marco van Staden
21. Nizaam Carr
22. Zak Burger
23. Devon Williams
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Latest Comments
Some very interesting points in your post.
Go to commentsExactly, Moana is entirely a NZ side and it the second Auckland franchise. Its the only side in the world that's been setup for the alleged purpose of developing players for two other ‘countries’ from playing talent from another country.
In reality it's best players are always going to be picked for the Allblacks as they're eligible kiwis. That's never going to change so the best thing to do is stop the pretence and make the team just another NZ super franchise that isn't ethnically based to allow talent equal access to professional contracts regardless of their ethnicity.
Commentaries claiming players from this team need to be ignored by the Allblacks selectors are of course advocating for the ridiculous situation that NZ becomes the only rugby country that overlooks players born and living in that country with that countries citizenship.
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