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Meanwhile, Bulls boss Jake White said Springbok star RG Snyman would not have left to play for Leinster in an ideal world.
Springbok star and double World Cup winner, RG Snyman will play against the team that gave him his first professional debut. Picture: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
South African double World Cup winner RG Snyman, New Zealand star Jordie Barrett and French international Rabah Slimani have all been selected for Leinster’s side to play the Bulls at Loftus on Saturday despite it appearing a second-string side would be chosen.
Former Springbok and current Leinster boss Jacques Nienaber hinted the trend of fielding second-string sides would continue as Leinster tour South Africa right after the Six Nations. They did so in the past and have only won one of seven URC matches on South African soil since the 2021/22 season, their sole victory coming against the Lions in April 2023 (final score 39–36).
However, Irish stars James Culhane, Will Connors, Jimmy O’Brien, Ross Byrne, Thomas Clarkson and Scott Penny were also selected for the powerhouse side which seems to balance experience and youth.
Luke McGrath again captains the team that also sees academy players Diarmuid Mangan, Andrew Osborne and Hugh Cooney start, though the trio have just 21 caps between them.
ALSO READ | Bulls captain: Second-string Leinster as good as many sides’ first teams
Leinster have 12 wins from 12 games in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and are at risk of suffering their first loss of the season when they play against the last team to beat them (the Bulls won last season’s URC semi-final, in June).
Leinster’s balanced squad may just mirror Jake White’s Bulls, which saw nine changes made to the starting XV.
There are no shortage of current and former Springboks in the Bulls side despite the widespread changes made due to injury and for player rotation.
White told media on Friday Leinster were the “benchmark” of how clubs could aspire to promote development and depth while still winning games.
“They’ve got the model for how they can rotate their players, bring through juniors from the Leinster academy, and release players for Six Nations, and still be unbeaten,” White said.
White said he understood how the model of bringing international players into a line-up could benefit young players, as Leinster have done. But he also said it was frustrating how top players such as Snyman left the club of his youth (the Bulls) to ply his trade overseas.
“You’re talking about a [former] Bulls guy, a double World Cup winner who went to school across the road, sharing his intellectual property with players who aren’t in the South African system. That is the frustration.
“In the real world, he should still be playing here.”
White said Snyman, Lood de Jager, Jan Serfontein and other Bulls stars who played for the Springboks were elevated because of the stars before them who filtered their experience down to them.
When Snyman and co ply their trade overseas, local players miss out. White said the skills vacuum of Springboks playing overseas did create opportunities for young South Africans at our franchises, however.
Still, he said he was “longing for the day” the Bulls could field 23 international players.
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