South African World Cup winner RG Snyman and Ireland scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park are close to lining out for Leinster for the early part of the season. Snyman engaged with the forwards this week, while Gibson-Park was involved in full training as Leinster prepare to face Edinburgh on the synthetic pitch at Hive Stadium for their opening URC match on Friday evening.
Snyman injured his foot playing for the Springboks in the Rugby Championship, while Gibson-Park damaged his hamstring and missed Ireland’s tour to South Africa at the end of last season.
“They’re close. RG took a full part in the forwards unit’s session today,” said Leinster assistant coach Robin McBryde. “Obviously his next progression will be building up to be able to take a full part in training. I’d say over the next couple of weeks, hopefully we’ll see him. Jamo [Gibson-Park], he took a full part in training today. It’s positive news on both of them.”
As well as Snyman coming up from Munster, Rabah Slimani has been with the squad for the preseason. The 34-year-old prop has 57 caps for France and joined Leinster from Clermont. As with Snyman, it is hoped his experience will be a useful addition in mentoring younger frontrow players as the club seek their first URC title since beating Munster in 2021.
“They were head-to-head, both James Ryan and himself [Snyman]. They were calling the lineouts for their respective countries in that second test in the summer,” said McBryde. “For them to be able to sit next to each other, and working alongside and learn from each other, where else are you going to get that?
“There is no better education or development and it works both ways. Hopefully he’ll be able to impart some of the knowledge that he has gained over the years, RG, wherever he has been. He’s fitting in, same as Rabah. They’ve been great. It’s just a great melting pot at the moment and we’ve got to make sure we get the best out of them.”
Slimani is the first French international to represent Leinster and he has already shown that he has more in his toolkit than just pushing in the scrum.
“He’s a good character, he’s surprised a few with how good his handling skills are and he was even kicking off out of hand for the kick-off pods the other day,” said McBryde.
“He’s got a couple of strings to his bow, but we need to keep him grounded a little bit and focus on the scrum. The mentality that they [French] have; they pride themselves on certain aspects, the set-piece; definitely hoping some of that Top 14 mentality will rub off on the youngsters.”
It is going to be another season of adjustment for Leinster as a development tour to South Africa will be led by Simon Easterby. The squad will assemble at the IRFU high-performance centre on September 25th, before departing for Bloemfontein three days later.
The Emerging Ireland team will face the Pumas in the campaign opener on Wednesday, October 2nd, before going head to head with Super Rugby outfit Western Force on Sunday, October 6th. They will conclude the Tour against defending Currie Cup champions the Cheetahs on Wednesday, October 9th, with all matches being played at Toyota Stadium.
It is expected that Leinster players will form a significant rump of the team, although two years ago, Munster players Jack Crowley and Calvin Nash emerged along with Leinster lock Joe McCarthy after making an impression on Andy Farrell. Either way, the tour will affect the season.
“It will, won’t it,” said McBryde. “It hasn’t happened since I’ve been here, so I’m still waiting to see what the fallout will be from it. It will test our depth, but you’ve just got to get on with it.
“You can have a look and work with players, take them away ... hopefully it will be a good experience and they will come back better for it. I suppose we are a little bit different because we have got so much talent. That level of competition you see [in Leinster], you won’t get it anywhere else.”
Leinster kick off against Edinburgh at 7.35pm on Friday.
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