Nienaber on Snyman: 'He needs to fulfil our needs'

SPOTLIGHT: Jacques Nienaber has outlined the boxes RG Snyman needs to tick before getting the “all clear” for his return to the playing field.

The 29-year-old lock has been out of action since he was a late withdrawal ahead of South Africa’s Rugby Championship opener against Australia in August due to a foot injury.

The lock was named in the starting XV but was withdrawn from the team just hours before kick-off.

Snyman has stepped up his rehabilitation programme in Ireland this week and he could make his Leinster debut against Benetton in Italy on Saturday.

Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus will also be keeping an eye on the lock as the end-of-year tour is just weeks away.

However, Nienaber, who is a senior coach at Leinster, said there will be a cautious approach when it comes to managing his workload in the coming weeks.

“When we started his return-to-play date, if everything went 100 percent and according to plan, we hoped that we could get him back for [the Dragons game] last weekend,” Nienaber told Irish media.

“From a medical point of view, they thought we must give him a little bit more time and see how he copes.

“He was in the majority of the training last week and he was comfortable.

“They just wanted to gradually progress his load. He is in full training this week.”

Nienaber said the message is clear on what Snyman needs to do ahead of selection day.

“He trained well [Monday]. Hopefully, the medics will give us the all clear,” Nienaber added.

“From a coaching point of view, he needs to fulfil our needs in terms of quality of training and what he brings in the training and then he needs to fulfil their needs in terms of the fact that he doesn’t get symptoms.

“Then we can pick him.”

Source: Irish Examiner