IT WAS LAST October when Rassie Erasmus expressed his fear that RG Synman might not return from injury in time for this year’s World Cup. Back then, the Munster lock was still in the midst of his knee injury nightmare.
While acknowledging that Snyman is “a freak athlete” and stressing how important he was to South Africa’s 2019 World Cup success, Erasmus sounded worried.
“At some stage, we have to start wondering if RG will make it to the World Cup,” said Erasmus as he spoke about calling Leinster lock Jason Jenkins into the Springboks set-up for their autumn campaign.
So Erasmus and Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber would have been hugely relieved when Snyman made it back onto the pitch with Munster in March, steadily building match fitness and form to help the Irish province to their stirring URC victory.
His five appearances for Munster were more than enough for Erasmus and Nienaber to be convinced that 28-year-old Snyman was ready for a Test rugby comeback.
The 6ft 9ins second row hadn’t played for the Springboks since the 2019 World Cup, when he featured in all seven of their games. Snyman started twice against minnows Namibia and Canada but was otherwise a key member of the ‘Bomb Squad,’ adding huge impact from the bench.
That’s the role he has resumed over the past two weekends, playing 27 minutes of a win over Australia in the first round of the Rugby Championship and then 37 minutes in last weekend’s defeat to New Zealand.
It has been a happy return to Test rugby for Snyman, who has shown that despite being injured for most of the past three years, he has managed to add at least one new string to his bow. The old strengths remain intact too.
Snyman’s menace as an attacking weapon is well-known and he has shown glimpses of that over the past two weeks. Below, we see Snyman’s first carry for the Springboks since the 2019 World Cup final.
Snyman demonstrates his power by bumping off Wallabies lock Nick Frost before he’s brought to ground, where he delivers a clean placement of the ball.
With his next touch, Syman reminded Boks fans of his offloading ability.
He reacts well to claim a bouncing ball in the instance below, takes contact, and makes a one-handed offload.
Snyman’s offloading ability gives him a real x-factor that many other second rows simply don’t have.
His pure size and power allow him to win collisions, therefore making it easier to offload, but it still takes handling and decision-making skill to pull off his offloading.
The effort below doesn’t go directly to hand but shows another kind of position Snyman is comfortable offloading from, even over the top of a double tackle.
Snyman really needed a team-mate running a more purposeful line close to him looking for an offload in this instance. It was noticeable when he first returned for Munster that his team-mates initially weren’t on the same wavelength when it came to support lines for his offloads but that quickly improved and will with the Boks too.
Snyman is also adept at passing pre-contact, whether with short tip-on or tip-in passes to fellow forwards, or slick sweep passes like the one below against the All Blacks.
Defensively, Snyman puts his athleticism to good use.
He’s notably mobile for a man of such proportions. Snyman didn’t have to complete a tackle against Australia but made all six of his efforts against the All Blacks. It seems likely Erasmus and Nienaber will push him to bring even more destructive impact in the tackle whenever possible, but he’s certainly no weakness when it comes to defence.
One area of major growth in Snyman’s game since joining Munster – despite only playing 10 times for the province so far – has been his lineout work.
When Snyman last played for the Boks, he was not a lineout caller but he has learned that skill in Ireland. It’s a massive boost for South Africa and gives them greater options in their squad. Calling lineouts is a tricky craft. It involves a huge amount of analysis, thought, and review.
Snyman has gone from being a ‘four lock’ – usually the non-lineout-calling lock who scrummages behind the tighthead prop – to also being a ‘five lock’ – the one who calls the lineout and scrummages on the left side, which is generally accepted to be slightly less physically taxing.
In short, Snyman is becoming a complete second row who can do both lock roles for the Boks.
Having learned the skill in Munster, Snyman has come on to call the lineout in both of his Tests over the last two weekends.
Indeed, his first involvement on his return against the Wallabies was to call a lineout on himself, launching a clever shift drive that saw the Springboks awarded a penalty try and Wallabies hooker David Porecki sin-binned.
It might not be as spectacular as a carry or offload, but this first involvement in nearly four years for the Boks from Snyman was of the highest quality as he called exactly the right lineout and maul play for his team to score in emphatic fashion.
Snyman did something similar against the All Blacks last weekend.
This is actually the second lineout he calls after coming off the bench, but again he claims the throw himself.
The Boks attempt to shift their maul drive to the right again, but the initial shove is repelled and they have to be more patient.
Eventually, Snyman helps the maul to swing to the left and the Boks splinter through for hooker Malcolm Marx to score.
Watch below as Snyman shows his utter delight, pulling Marx off the ground and headbutting him in celebration.
It was a big moment in the game, bringing the Boks back to a 20-10 deficit after their miserable first half in the face of the rampant Kiwis.
When Snyman was on the pitch, they won all four of the lineouts he called, with Snyman calling three of them onto himself.
We must note, however, that after his fine start against the Wallabies with that penalty try, the Australians stole the next two South African throws as Snyman called both on himself.
There’s no subtlety in the South African lineout here and the springy Wallabies lock Frost beats Snyman to the throw, as he did again three minutes later.
But from there, Snyman mixed things up and the Boks won their four remaining lineouts, including one excellent take from the man himself. Lineout calling is another area Snyman continues to work hard on but it’s welcome for the Boks to have him capable of filling this role now along with Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, and Marvin Orie.
Meanwhile, his versatility in the scrum is also helpful. When he came on against the Wallabies, Snyman slotted in on the tighthead side of the Boks scrum, where his Munster team-mate Jean Kleyn had been positioned up until that point.
Kleyn is very much a ‘four lock’ but Snyman was preferred in the tighthead slot as Kleyn shifted to the left. The combination of Munster men helped the Boks to get scrum dominance in the last part of that game as they earned three penalties.
Of course, the front row’s work is key to scrum success but the power of Snyman and Kleyn in the second row behind them shouldn’t be underestimated.
Pieter-Steph du Toit moved from flanker into the second row for the closing stages of that Wallabies game, taking over from Kleyn as the loosehead lock.
Against New Zealand, Snyman came off the bench for de Jager early in the second half and swapped in as the loosehead lock this time, with Eben Etzebeth – a prototype ‘four lock’ – remaining on the tighthead side.
The Boks won one scrum penalty and conceded one during the time this lock pairing was on the pitch, although it’s worth stressing again that the scrum is about far more than who is in the second row.
Still, Snyman’s comfort on either side of the scrum is a welcome quality.
The Munster man hasn’t been called on to claim a restart in the past fortnight but he’s generally strong in that ‘set-piece’ too.
While it makes more sense to have Snyman involved on the ball as much as possible in attack, he’s also solid in terms of his ruck contributions. He had nine ruck arrivals against the Wallabies along with three attacking touches, then hit six rucks against New Zealand as well as getting five touches of the ball.
All in all, it has been a pleasing return to Test rugby for Snyman and he looks likely to be an important figure as the Springboks defend their World Cup title. If that’s the case, he’s set to be up against some familiar faces when the Boks meet Ireland in Pool B.
