Leinster table €500k for Springbok second row RG Snyman
Leinster have tabled a whopping €500,000 a season for the services of Springboks second row RG Snyman, who is expected to sign for the Irish province.
While it is yet to be confirmed, reports in Ireland over the last week have suggested that Snyman will sign for the URC heavyweights, with new senior coach Jacques Nienaber using his influence to land the Rugby World Cup from Irish rivals Munster.
Snyman had been linked with a move to Johann van Graan's Bath, while several of South Africa's URC franchises were also interested. However, RugbyPass understands that Leinster blew them all out of the water with an eye-watering €500,000 (10 million Rand) contract for his services.
Head coach Leo Cullen has remained coy about the signing in interviews, but it is very much been talked about as a done deal.
The touted move has left some scratching their heads, however, not least given Snyman's appalling injury profile while at Munster. South African publication Netwerk 24 worked out that the 6'9 forward was effectively paid €8,000 a minute after playing just 268 minutes for the club since signing for them in 2020.
Leinster also appear relatively well stocked in the second row with Irish internationals James Ryan, Joe McCarthy and 5.5 Ryan Baird already in situ. In addition, they have one cap Springbok Jason Jenkins on the books, who at 6'8 and 124kg was signed - again from rival province Munster - to provide added ballast to the Leinster pack.
It could equally be argued that the potential signing of the superstar cuts against the grain of the IRFU's player pathway that has produced so much talent for the national side in recent years, largely by ensuring that Irish-qualified players are exposed to game time in key positions.
Former Leinster No.8 Jamie Heaslip told RTE yesterday during Leinster's Investec Champions Cup match with Sale Sharks that: "If it happens, in a way it's almost comical for it to happen again, particularly with the Jason Jenkins move - previous to that."
Prior to reports of the signing last week, former British & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton flagged the move to RugbyPass, suggesting Leinster needed a player like Snyman to get them over the line.
“You are just going to try and fit into some of the systems that are already in place and just tweak a couple of things… but what I think Leinster need to add is some brute force up front. That is probably what Leinster are missing when it comes to the Champions Cup. Someone like an RG Snyman, who looks like he could be going to Bath, that would be an amazing recruitment for someone like Leinster just to add someone of that ilk into their pack.
“We’ll see. For the Leinster fans’ sake, you don’t want to be detrimental to the development of young players but you feel a couple of bolstering players in that pack would be what they need. Your (Will) Skeltons, your RG Snymans, that kind of player just to stick in your front five to get you over the finish line.”
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After a fairly simple Pac4, the BFs will find out a lot about themselves in September when they face the rampaging RedRoses at Twickenham in front of a record crowd. After that they will face them again in Canada in WXV1. They also have France to contend with. Will be interesting to see what Australia have to offer with Jo Yapp at the helm.
Go to commentsSuper Rugby Pacific has been better as a spectacle due to the emphasis on speeding the game up and I’d look at taking things a step further. Instead of giving teams 90 seconds to take a conversion, let’s bring that down 60 seconds. You could also look at allowing 45 seconds for a penalty goal. Maybe teams could get 20 seconds instead of 30 to form a scrum before the ref then starts the engagement process. However, this year the most pleasing change is the added competitiveness in the Trans Tasman matches. What does frustrate me is how the rugby media in Australasia allow the the whole ‘‘rugby is boring’’/’’rugby yawnion’’ narrative to take hold from from vindictive league types, the chairman of the ARL commission and News Limited Australia. Stick up for the game and shift the narrative!
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