Marais stands by Snyman

Bulls head coach Nollis Marais has given his support to lock RG Snyman after he was red-carded in Saturday’s loss to the Highlanders in Pretoria.

That match was evenly poised at 10-10 in the 71st minute when Bulls replacement prop Pierre Schoeman went over the whitewash but his effort was disallowed as television replays revealed a shoulder charge from Snyman on a Highlanders player’s head, in the build-up.

Referee Jaco van Heerden then sent Snyman off and to make matters worse, the Highlanders secured victory thanks to a Malakai Fekitoa try five minutes later.

But despite Snyman’s indiscretion, Marais is supporting the player.

“RG is 21,” he said after the match.

“At the end of the day, there’s a lot of things I can say. It’s unfortunate.

“His intent wasn’t to hit the guy in the head. I think he had an excellent game and he played well. Unfortunately he made a mistake.

“He’s obviously feeling bad. He knows how important it was for me and the team. He’s feeling down. I said to him afterwards, ‘RG, I love you very much. You’ve got to learn from this.’

“Apart from that one mistake he made, he had a really excellent game.”