Ireland forward James Ryan praised the impact of Springbok superstar RG Snyman at Leinster as the Irish province look to end their silverware drought.
Snyman joined the side from arch-rivals Munster at the beginning of the season and. despite the nature of the move between two enemies, the hulking second-row has already won over the fans in Dublin.
Always smiling
It certainly helps that the Springbok has hit the ground running with his brilliant line-out and offload game. While his playing attributes remain impressive, Ryan believes the lock has also brought a lighter edge to the Leinster set-up thanks to the smile he often sports.
“It’s a good thing because maybe sometimes it can be a bit serious,” said Ryan.
“Scott Fardy was the same when he came, real, old-school, completely different perspective on it – now, he’d be the other end of the spectrum. Even Jordie (Barrett) coming in, just a different personality – and James Lowe as well. RG does bring a different voice with different ideas.
“He’s pretty open-minded to trying stuff. I’d say there are a lot of similarities as well, in the way that he looks at the game and the way some of the second rows in here would look at it.
“He’s pretty chilled, laughing on the pitch. He’s already very popular off the pitch. He’s very laid back. And, on the pitch, obviously he’s a great option in the lineout in terms of his height. But he has that all-court game as well. He’s very good with the ball in hand, you see the way he looks for offloads.
“Even when you’re putting a plan together for the week in terms of the set-piece, he’s brilliant as well, he loves driving, he loves a lineout drive. He’d be very open-minded to trying different things and looking at what might work and what we can do this week. I’ve loved it, he’s been great.”
Despite having a high-powered squad in recent seasons it has been a long time since Leinster won silverware with their last trophy coming in 2021. Ryan insists there is no added pressure as a result.
“There’s always pressure and it’s probably pressure we put on ourselves in terms of expectations and standards,” he said.
“It’s the same this year. We want to go after winning trophies and that comes with huge pressure but what’s the alternative, you don’t want to go after it? It’s great to be back in a competition we love playing in. It’s always a game we enjoy playing in the run-up to Christmas, so we can’t wait.”
Star in the making
While Snyman has turned heads at the province, so has prodigy fly-half Sam Prendergast, who looks to have gone from strength to strength since debuting for Ireland in the autumn.
Ryan is impressed with his confidence on the biggest stage and believes good things are to come from the young star.
“I think he’s done very well,” said Ryan. “He obviously did unbelievably well for us, two tries at the weekend. He’s quick when he gets going, when there’s a bit of space.
“You see him growing into the role. He’s very confident for a young player and it’s obviously so important to have that in that position. But it’s a nice confidence – a good confidence, if that makes sense, he’s quite self-assured.
“He has been great and he managed the week well last week, and managed the game as well – in tricky conditions, it has to be said, with a lot of moving parts.”
