RG Snyman: Leinster provide an update on the injured Springboks lock and Jamison Gibson-Park
Leo Cullen has provided an update on the injury of Springboks lock.
Leinster boss Leo Cullen has provided an update on the injuries to Springboks lock RG Snyman and Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park.
The second rower featured in South Africa’s July internationals against Ireland and Portugal but a foot injury denied him a cap in the Rugby Championship.
RG Snyman injury update
Snyman made the trip out to Australia and was set to feature in the second game Down Under but was sidelined by a foot injury which saw him miss both of the Springboks matches against the Wallabies and All Blacks.
He has now linked up with Leinster where Cullen has confirmed that the lock will miss the rest of the Rugby Championship and the opening rounds of the United Rugby Championship.
“RG came back (to Leinster), he injured his foot, but it’s pretty minor, thankfully,” Cullen explained.
“He is rehabbing with us at the moment. He was out on the side of the pitch there, I’ve just come in from a session, he was doing a rehab run. He is making progress.
“I’m not sure if he will be back for round one but hopefully by round two or three, he will be back for us.
“With South Africa, in terms of the Rugby Championship, listen he’s not going to be available – you have seen they have already announced their squad for next week, he won’t travel to Argentina. So he’s likely to stay with us then for the remainder.”
With Snyman out injured, Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has turned to Bulls star Ruan Nortje to fill the number five jersey along with the excellent Pieter-Steph du Toit – the latter has now been rested for the clash in Argentina with Salmaan Moerat, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Eben Etzebeth making the trip.
Jamison Gibson-Park
Meanwhile, the Leinster boss has also provided a positive update on scrum-half Gibson-Park, who missed the tour to South Africa with Ireland due to a hamstring injury.
Cullen explained that the 32-year-old is tracking well in training and is set to be available for selection for the opening round of the URC season when Leinster clash with Edinburgh.
“He is training fully now, so he should be good to go for round one hopefully,” he said.
With so many of Leinster’s players having featured against the Springboks, Cullen revealed that some stars will be available to him sooner than others which will lead to a lot of chopping and changing in the opening rounds of the 2024/25 season.
“I think we will probably chop and change our team quite a bit over the first six rounds of the season,” said Cullen.
“Part of that is that there is a necessity to do that, which is positive for strong competition, but it can be a challenge from a cohesion point of view.”
