The Cell C Sharks’ chances of qualifying for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup have been boosted by the news that RG Snyman has been ruled out of the Munster team for Saturday’s final Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at HollywoodBets Kings Park.
Snyman was hugely influential in Munster’s close win over the DHL Stormers in Cape Town last weekend but looked like he was knocked cold in one of the plays in the last quarter. He looked groggy when he came off the field and that was confirmed on Tuesday when Munster coach Graham Rowntree made it known that the Springbok will not be playing in Durban.
Snyman was out for a long time, dating back to the start of his first season with Munster where he joined with fellow Bok Damian de Allende, who is now in Japan, and only recently made his return to the field. His performance against the Stormers was good enough to suggest he should be in the mix for the Bok World Cup squad, but he will be away from the field for a short period again as he follows the graduated return-to-play protocols that have been instituted around concussion.
Rowntree will be forced then to change the second row pairing that featured Snyman’s fellow South African Jean Kleyn for the Durban clash, and considering how influential both those players were in disrupting the Stormers, it is a severe setback for the Irish province.
Also in doubt for Saturday’s game is Munster’s first choice hooker Diarmuid Barron, who scored two tries for the visitors in Cape Town. However, the news on him is more positive, and he is said to be recovering well from injury and is set to return to training well before Saturday’s game. According to Irish media sources, Ireland international loosehead Dave Kilcoyne is increasing his training load and could be available for the Sharks game, which will be important for Munster as it was in the scrums that they struggled against the Sharks in the 50-15 Champions Cup defeat three weeks ago.