RG Snyman ready to tackle new challenges

ON the second day of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival in 2012, when Affies beat Paarl Gimnasium 27-20, there were two highly talented, fiercely competitive players on the field who would go on to become close Springbok team mates.

During the packed Saturday lunchtime fixture over the Easter weekend Affies lock, Rudolph Gerhardus (RG) Snyman, already measuring more than 2m as a schoolboy, fought it out with Paarl Gim captain and flyhalf, Handre Pollard, who measured 1.89m.

Since their epic clash on the Stott at Kearsney eight years ago, Pollard and Snyman have both gone on to proudly wear the green and gold.

ALSO READ: Local rugga makes international strides

As a 17-year-old, Pollard was already showing signs of brilliance that has put him at the top of rugby’s earnings list heading into the 2020-21 European season. His smarts and agility awed spectators and selectors and earned him the title of best backline player at the festival that year, while Snyman was voted best forward player at that festival.

Recently, the 25-year-old RG Snyman is a regular in the Springbok set-up since coach Rassie Erasmus’ tenure and has played 23 tests for the Springboks since he made his debut in 2018.After the 2019 Rugby World Cup, where Snyman was a member of the victorious South African team, he returned to Japanese Top League side Honda Heat where he’s played since the 2017 season.

He was due to miss the 2020 Super Rugby season due to these commitments with Honda Heat, but was forced to remain in Japan because of the travel restrictions in place during the global Covid-19 outbreak.Snyman was scheduled to join Irish Pro14 side Munster, whose head coach is the former Springboks forwards coach, Johann van Graan, on a two-year contract from the 2020?21 season.

Since his primary school days, Snyman has represented the Blue Bulls, when he played in the 2008 U13 Craven Week competition, 2011 U16 Grant Khomo Week and the 2013 U18 Craven Week, from which he was selected for the SA Schools team.

After school, he joined the Blue Bulls Academy and represented the Blue Bulls U19 side during the 2014 U19 Provincial Championship.

He was named in the training squad for the SA national U20 rugby union team and, despite missing out on their two-match tour of Argentina, he was named in the final squad for the 2015 World Rugby U20 Championship on the team’s return.

ALSO READ: New doors open for Springbok fullback, Warrick Gelant

In June 2015, he extended his contract at the Bulls until October 2017 before he moved to Japan for three years, with hopes to move to Munster in Ireland when rugby gets going again in the Northern Hemisphere.

Historically, the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival has provided a platform from which gifted young rugby players could springboard to the next level of the game, while at the same time provide spectators with the opportunity to watch the cream of the country’s emerging talent.

Following last year’s festival, a remarkable 43 per cent of participating players were selected a few months later for Academy and Craven Week, SA Academy and SA Schools teams.Sadly, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 festival had to be cancelled, but great plans are being made for next year’s event, which will be held during Kearsney’s centenary year.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).

Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via Telegram? Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts.

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.