Former Wales skipper Sam Warburton has suggested that Leinster should join the race to sign double World Cup winner RG Snyman.
Munster last week announced that the 28-year-old is set to end his four-year stay in Limerick, having not been able to offer him an extension on his current contract.
The tug-of-war for Snyman’s signature looks set for a few extra twists, after reports in France suggest that the Springbok lock had accepted a deal to join Bath.
South African newspaper Rapport have suggested that the Stormers are also hopeful of striking a deal with the ex-Bulls skyscraper.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with RugbyPass, Warburton touched on the influence at Leinster of former Bok boss Jacques Nienaber, now senior coach, and reckons the Irish giants must make a play for an on-field enforcer like Snyman.
MORE: Boks confirm All Blacks’ Cape Town return
“[Leinster] fans won’t see a drastic change,” Warburton said about Nienaber. “It takes time to really groove your training drills, the training regime, the messages that you want to get across.
“You might see a five, 10 percent difference in the first few weeks but to see real differences you are probably going to have to give it time. Look at Johann van Graan at Bath, it has taken a year so it takes a lot of time. I don’t think you are going to reinvent the wheel right now.
“You are just going to try and fit into some of the systems that are already in place and just tweak a couple of things… but what I think Leinster need to add is some brute force up front. That is probably what Leinster are missing when it comes to the Champions Cup.
“Someone like an RG Snyman, who looks like he could be going to Bath, that would be an amazing recruitment for someone like Leinster just to add someone of that ilk into their pack.
“We’ll see. For the Leinster fans’ sake, you don’t want to be detrimental to the development of young players but you feel a couple of bolstering players in that pack would be what they need.
“Your [Will] Skeltons, your RG Snymans, that kind of player just to stick in your front five to get you over the finish line.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
