MANY of the senior players in the Springbok squad are on the wrong side of 30 and with two World Cups in the bag, they would be forgiven if they reached for the pipe and slippers, but RG Snyman says the Springbok environment is addictive.
Rudolph Gerhardus Snyman, ‘The Viking’ or simply RG, says that the sweet taste of success and the constant adrenaline trip of being a Bok under Rassie Erasmus will keep him coming back for more.
“I am often asked what drives me at this stage of my career and after all that we have accomplished, and my answer is that once you have been part of the Springbok team, you want to stay as long as you possibly can,” said Snyman, who yesterday started for the Boks against Portugal.
“It is such a lekker environment to be in. The Boks are a family, but it is also a place where you are constantly driven to achieve.
“The other thing I treasure about being with the Boks is the indescribable experience of playing in front of home crowds,” the 29-year-old added.
“Game day in South Africa is amazing. It is special to see the crowds gathering at the stadium and to play in front of such enthusiastic supporters. I can never tire of that.”
The sold-out stadiums for the Ireland series and the Portgual game are all the more pleasurable for Snyman as he missed four years of Springbok rugby because of crippling injuries.
After playing in the World Cup final in Japan in November 2019, his next Test was in July 2023 against Australia.
It is remarkable that he made that comeback. Snyman joined Munster late in 2019 and was almost immediately hit by a devastating ACL knee ligament rupture. A year later, when he returned to training, he suffered the same injury in his other knee.
Not long after, he bizarrely incurred serious burns at a Munster end-of-season party where a bonfire got out of control. He was bitterly disappointed to be ruled out of the series against the British & Irish Lions because of the burns.
He did not play for nearly three years and had to show incredible mental fortitude to make it back onto the pitch.
“I had to find a positive to being sidelined for all that time. I analysed my performances and looked at what I could improve in my game,” he explains.
“It would not be clever to tell you about the weaknesses identified, but I am fixing things as I go along.
“The moment you no longer want to learn, then you must ask questions about where you are in your career.”
Learning is the name of the game in the Springbok camp in 2024. There are new coaches in New Zealander Tony Brown, Irishman Jerry Flannery, and former No 8 Duane Vermeulen, and a new, more attacking style of play to be grasped.
“I learned so much from Duane when he was playing and now in his new role,” Snyman says.
“I’d say his technical knowledge around the maul and the breakdown is the best in the world.
“The new coaches are putting pressure on us to get better and we are excited about the path we are on,” Snyman says of the input of Brown and Flannery.
“It is lekker to work with them because you get a new perspective. It is always interesting to see how other people see the game.
“We are learning from Tony and Jerry and appreciating the importance of different outlooks. You can’t have tunnel vision and rely on your view of the game. You have to evolve and grow to stay at the top.”
In the last World Cup, it was Snyman who initiated the Springboks’ comeback from the dead in the semi-final against England. The champions looked down and out, but when Snyman threaded an impossibly long arm through a tangle of defenders to score from a line-out drive, the Boks were rejuvenated.
The ‘Bomb Squad’ had detonated and the Boks went on to win and advance to the final. Snyman is the backbone of the Bomb Squad and he says it doesn’t worry him in the slightest that he has started just 10 times in his 36 Tests.
“The way we approach the game, it is not a big issue whether you are starting or playing off the bench,” he says.
“I don’t feel that I am an inferior player because most of my caps are off the bench. I am proud of being in the Bomb Squad.
“We take the role very seriously. If one of us is picked to start, we joke, ‘Sorry man, maybe next game you will be back in the Bomb Squad’.”