The injury-plagued RG Snyman being crowned a Vodacom URC champion and back in the Springbok squad is a cause for celebration, according to MARK KEOHANE.

Snyman was included in a group of 33 players for the Boks’ second preparation camp of 2023 in Durban this week, after featuring prominently for Munster against the DHL Stormers in the URC final at DHL Stadium.

He has not played for the Boks since winning the 2019 World Cup in Japan, and his three years since in Ireland have been hampered by setback after setback.

In his TimesLIVE column, Keohane hails the performance of ‘The Viking’ in Cape Town last week, and what it means from a national rugby perspective.

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“Munster, despite Snyman playing the collective minutes of two matches in two years, offered him a two-year contract extension in January 2022, and they just would not give up on their insistence that ‘The Viking’ would come good when it mattered most,” he writes.

“In Cape Town, last Saturday night, he did just that. The Munster leadership were patient, tolerant and only ever effusive in their praise for Snyman.

“They were also understanding of the emotional battle Snyman fought to get back onto the field, with 17 months passing between his fourth and fifth matches for the club.

“There was natural disappointment among Stormers supporters and understandable South African provincial delight in provinces outside the Western Cape at the result, but mostly there was joy that Snyman had made it to 80 minutes.

“Snyman was more the story than a Stormers heartbreaking defeat.”

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