Leinster coach has news that will please Rassie

NEWS: South Africa’s second row stocks, ahead of the year-end tour, are beginning to look very impressive.

The latest bulletin of good news came out of Ireland.

Leinster coach Leo Cullen issued an injury update ahead of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship Round Three match against Benetton at Stadio Comunale di Monigo in Treviso.

Two-times World Cup-winning lock RG Snyman will step up his rehabilitation programme further this week as he nears a return from a foot injury.

Snyman was a late withdrawal ahead of the Rugby Championship opener against Australia back in August.

The towering lock missed South Africa’s 33-7 win over Australia due to the foot injury.

The lock was named in the starting XV but was withdrawn from the team just hours before kick-off.

His absence saw utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit cover the lock position with Ben-Jason Dixon starting at flank.

The imminent return of Snyman follows after fellow World Cup-winning lock Jean Kleyn – who made his return to the playing field in Munster’s loss to Zebre this past weekend.

The 31-year-old, who made his Springbok debut in the build-up to last year’s World Cup in France after representing Ireland at the 2019 event, suffered an injury while playing for Munster in the URC in November.

That was his first game back for the province, having played a crucial role for South Africa as they won a record fourth World Cup crown – beating the All Blacks 12-11 in the Final in Paris in October.

At the time of the injury in November, Munster ruled him out until the New Year.

However, that soon became ‘for the rest of the season’.

It was later revealed that he had gone to see a specialist in America, with speculation surfacing that the injury may be even more serious that Munster had let on.

South Africa’s most capped player of all time, Eben Etzebeth, partnered with Ruan Nortje in the 48-7 win over Argentina ion Nelspruit at the weekend.

Franco Mostert, who started alongside Etzebeth in the World Cup Final win over New Zealand, is also on the mend from a leg fracture suffered against Ireland in July.