If there is one forward who is enjoying the Springboks’ evolution to a more attacking game and running more with the ball in hand, it’s lock RG Snyman.
Known mostly for his impact off the bench as part of the Boks’ feared Bomb Squad, Snyman was thrust into South Africa’s run-on side with the injury to Franco Mostert. He is set to reprise that role for a while, with Mostert on the sidelines and the fresh face of Ruan Nortje only stepping into the Bok set-up with one Test behind his name.
South Africa take on Australia in the opening Rugby Championship Test on Saturday in Brisbane (kick-off 6.30am) in a match that will set the tone for their campaign in the Rugby Championship.
Snyman is known for his running with the ball in hand, often one-handed, and offloading with precision to a back or fellow forward in space to create that front-foot ball possession on the attack. And now, as the world champions look to evolve their attacking game under New Zealander Tony Brown, Snyman is one of the players embracing it with a big smile.
“It makes a guy excited, and it’s good to see the game and the way you play through a different view, almost experiencing it through different eyes. To run with the ball, it’s lekker,” Snyman said about the new way the Boks are approaching the game.
“Physically, there is a different way to prepare going into a game (when you are starting). Mentally, nothing much has changed with the way we prepare for a game (even with Franco out). As locks, we always sit together before the game and plan how we are going to do things regarding the line-outs, so from that perspective, nothing much has changed.
“It will be important for us to make a strong start, especially playing Australia in Brisbane. The guys will pitch up and it will be a tough game. From our side, we made sure that we were here early enough and put in the prep to go out on Saturday and give our all.”
According to Snyman, playing Ireland in July – where Aussie head coach Joe Schmidt coached before – would have been a massive help to them as he would have had a hand in setting up the Ireland systems, much like he is doing now at the start of his Wallaby tenure.
“There will certainly be some differences with the style of play the Aussies bring and the guys they have in the squad. But there will also be similarities set piece-wise and we are looking forward to that challenge.
“It’s certainly different not playing them through the season when it comes to preparing. There will just have to be a lot of extra work in terms of watching player profiles, who we think will play, and studying up on them and their past games.
“We’ve seen over the past games that they are running a bit of a new system with some quicker line-outs and small detail and variation in it that can keep us busy.
“Arriving here a couple of days earlier is definitely beneficial. We got over the jet lag earlier and it’s not in the Test week. We can also have a full week of training.”