BACK AT THOMOND Park yesterday, 20-year-old second row Edwin Edogbo was busy catching the eye for Munster, while Thomas Ahern made his first appearance for the province in a year.
And over in Stade de France, on the biggest stage, a senior Munster lock, RG Snyman, made another telling impact off the bench for South Africa as they edged their way past England into the World Cup final.
Edogbo has played only one game fewer than Snyman for Munster, while 23-year-old Ahern has more than double the appearances. That underlines just how injury-ravaged Snyman’s time with Munster has been.
But finally, the 28-year-old finds himself on a deserved healthy run and he has resumed his key role in the Bomb Squad for South Africa, having played a crucial part in the 2019 World Cup success.
Snyman is now just a game away from being a back-to-back world champion. His Munster team-mate Jean Kleyn has made two appearances for the Springboks in this World Cup but he hasn’t been involved in the knock-out stages.
Because Snyman has been injured for such long periods in his time with Munster, it was easy for people to forget just how good he is. In 2019, he was clearly one of the best locks in the world and played an important impact role behind starting duo Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager.
This time around, Etzebeth and Franco Mostert have been the starting second row pairing, but Snyman’s dynamism, size, and x-factor have been prominent off the bench again.
Last night, Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber called on Snyman as early as the 45th minute, sending him on for Etzebeth. One of the handy things about Snyman now is that he can play either of the second row roles – the tighthead lock or the lineout-calling loosehead lock.
In this instance, Etzebeth wasn’t at his best and the Springboks sent Snyman on as their tighthead lock, meaning that Snyman didn’t take over the lineout calling as he has in other replacement appearances. The superb Mostert continued to lead the lineout.
Despite being so big and heavy at 6ft 8ins and well over 120kg, Snyman has fine mobility and jumping quality in the lineout.
In the instance above, Snyman offers a dummy lift on Mostert before turning to jump himself, winning the ball under pressure from Courtney Lawes, and popping off the top to launch the Springboks’ attack.
Snyman had three lineout wins in this game. We see another below, with this simple win at the front launching what proved to be the Boks’ only try-scoring passage.
Snyman transfers the ball to Deon Fourie, who explodes away from the dummy maul to get outside Billy Vunipola and very nearly score on first phase.
Fourie is just stopped short but Snyman scores on the very next phase.
England are still scrambling to recover from Fourie’s carry and scrum-half Faf de Klerk makes a clever decision to skip Mostert and hit Snyman instead, meaning that the Munster man is running at two English backs, Joe Marchant and Jonny May.
Snyman’s power and size means he dominates the collision, drives his way over the line, then has the composure to rotate to his left and ground the ball, rather than getting held up.
The Springboks place a great premium on back-to-back actions from their players and Snyman delivers in this regard, winning the lineout and racing straight around the corner to score a pivotal 69th-minute try.
Set-piece work is the foundation for any second row and Snyman brings plenty of grunt at scrum time too.
While replacement loosehead prop Ox Nche did a lot of the damage and sub tighthead Vincent Koch combined with hooker Bongi Mbonambi strongly too, Snyman will have been thrilled to play a part in the Springboks’ scrum dominance in the final half hour.
This scrum penalty in the 60th minute was essential to the Boks’ win. England are nine points ahead and have the feed just seven metres out from the South African line.
Koch and Bongi do a superb job of popping England hooker Jamie George, with Snyman offering plenty of power from behind that tighthead side of the front row.
While this game was dominated by kicking in the heavy rain, it was still no surprise to see Snyman offering some of his characteristic offloading for the Boks. Below, we see his first touch after coming off the bench.
Snyman is an expert at getting the ball beyond the tackle, with his long arms, strength, and balance helping him to offload from positions other players simply can’t.
In the instance above, he finds Steven Kitshoff, while below he bursts into a sliver of space in the English defence and slips a lovely offload to Koch before he hits the ground.
Snyman is a huge attacking weapon thanks to his athleticism and eye for an offload.
Defensive duties are also key for any second row, particularly in the trenches close to the ruck where the gainline can be won and lost.
Snyman made seven tackles last night, generally in tight channels like the effort below.
He did slip off Ellis Genge at one stage, while Ben Earl stepped to his inside another time, but Snyman was still there working hard in the final minute of the game, dipping in low for this gainline-winning tackle with Nche on Maro Itoje.
All in all, it was another excellent outing for Snyman off the Springboks bench.
He would be a starting lock for most other nations at the World Cup given his blend of set-piece ability, athleticism, and sheer skill, but his impact role is crucial to this South African side.
It’s also exciting for Munster to see him so fit and in-form ahead of a big season for the province as they look to back up their URC success, which Snyman was part of after returning from injury.
But before he even thinks about getting back to business in Limerick, Snyman will look to earn his second World Cup winner’s medal next Saturday night in Paris.