Leinster second-row RG Snyman has revealed how players who hail from abroad have been influential during the team’s impressive run of form this season.
The Irish province have dominated the 2024/25 United Rugby Championship campaign and are sitting pretty atop the standings in that competition, while they will host Glasgow Warriors in their Investec Champions Cup quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium on Friday.
Strong foreign contingent
Apart from Snyman, who joined Leinster from arch rivals Munster on a one-year contract ahead of the season, All Blacks star Jordie Barrett and veteran France front-row Rabah Slimani have also joined their ranks.
In the build-up to their comprehensive 62-0 Champions Cup victory over Harlequins at Croke Park last weekend, Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan spoke of how his side can’t just rely on their systems in their efforts to secure victory and to allow for them to try some unscripted moves in trying to be successful.
Snyman, who won back-to-back Rugby World Cups with the Springboks, brings plenty of X-factor to Leinster’s cause with his brilliant offloading game.
And while finding a balance is crucial, he revealed that most Irish teams are renowned for being well prepared and rigorous in their approach.
“It’s definitely something I’ve come to learn here in Ireland,” Snyman told reporters. “It’s very structured. Guys are a lot focused on that and then you kind of go into that pattern a little bit more.
“Obviously I’ve been in Ireland a little bit longer now and then when a guy like Jordie comes in, he looks at things a little bit differently as well.
“Even when Tyler [Bleyendaal, the attack coach] comes in, he coaches a different style. So he has maybe a bit more of a ‘look up, play what you see in front of you’.
‘It brings the best out of all of us’
“Or something like that. It’s only an example I’m using now, but I just think if you bring all those conversations and all of those points of view to the table, it makes the squad we have now, it brings the best out of all of us.”
Snyman started his career at the Bulls but also had a three-year stint in Japan with Mie Honda Heat before he headed to Ireland to join Munster after the Boks’ triumphant 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign.
He believes the experiences he had in the various countries where he has played the game has helped him greatly during his career.
“You analyse different teams, you play a different style of rugby and that obviously all contributes to the player I am now,” he said. “The biggest thing I found was working under different coaches and working with multiple people throughout seasons.
“Like, at the start when I did Japan over the Currie Cup season, I had a set of coaches at the Bulls and then a set of coaches in Japan, and then a set of coaches at the Boks. So within one season, you kind of work under three different styles of coaching.
“You learn to be quite adaptable then and you obviously get three different perspectives around the game. I feel like that was definitely beneficial to me.”
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/rg-snyman-highlights-impact-of-leinsters-foreign-invasion-and-the-different-perspective-a-guy-like-jordie-barrett-brings
