World Cup winner RG Snyman finally nearing a return to action

By SABC Sport
20th January 2023

Springbok and Munster lock RG Snyman is finally nearing his return from a horror run of injuries that have kept him sidelined for more than two years.

The World Cup winner has managed just four games for Munster over a 24-month period after he suffered an initial cruciate knee injury in August 2020, before a fire pit incident the next year kept the towering Bok star out for even longer.

To make matters much worse, Snyman would then re-rupture his ACL in October of 2021, forcing him out of action for another extended period of time.

However, despite a small setback, the 27-year-old has now returned to light training with hopes of a return in the second half of the season.

Munster teammate Jean Kleyn praised Snyman's positivity and resilience in dealing with his nightmare injury scenario.

"I actually can't commend the man more," Kleyn said. "He's had two years from hell in terms of not just his injuries, but family bereavements, being away from home as well during all of this.

"I think it speaks volumes of his character that he's still coming in every day, big smile on his face, always involved. He has been sitting in on meetings for the last two years and still trying to add even though he knows he's six or eight months out - obviously that's six to eight months ago.

"There's not a single fella that's not excited to have him as part of the team and back in training, back on the pitch. He's a fella that slotted in incredibly well from the start, he's an incredibly likeable guy.

"His resilience is insane. I've never met a fella who has gone through more and maintained a more positive mindset. It's astonishing. I'd say if I was in the same position, I would just have thrown the towel in.

"Nothing seems to be able to keep him down for too long. He's a phenomenal guy. We're all very much looking forward to seeing him on the pitch again. He was involved during the warm up and a bit of skills today and you can just see that the man is just an athlete. He's a 6² 10³, 135 kilo athlete, which is scary. So we're all looking forward to seeing him involved again. He's going to be a massive benefit to the team."