Leinster Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread XII (The Byrne Supremacy)

The most amount of club games Snyman has ever started in his career is 14 for the Bulls back in 17/18

In Snyman we have a player who we didn't sign to play a heavy number of games a la Fardy (22,22,17*,19* apps per season) but a player who will be there to give us that extra dimension in the big games when he's available. (* = covid season)

Comfortingly, Snyman is just off the back of a season (or I guess most of the way through? Unsure when you count the RC in terms of a season) where he played 21 games (so far?) which is the highest number of games he's managed since that 17/18 season (22)

People need to get it through their head Snyman was signed to be a Brad Thorn, not a Scott Fardy.

"Appalling signing" and all the other hyperboles are just so tiring. He hasn't played a bloody game yet.

In life there are enough things to get actually outraged about. Pre outrage has to be the most bizarre mindsets for people to have. It's so bloody Irish. "I wont be let down if I don't get my hopes up in the first place". All you're doing is dragging the tone down with you.

Brad Thorn played 8 games for us. And made an impact in all of them in the business end of the season. That is what I was referring to. Fardy played 20 games a season.

In terms of pre outrage. Just one page back you'll find one of our (ahem…) fine moderators call this an "Appalling signing".

Jesus wept lad. You're picking apart pointless semantics for the sake of having a row. What are you hoping to achieve?

We signed Fardy and Triggs to do it on a rainy day in Newport (SO TO SPEAK - just in case you're going for semantics again)

We didn't sign Snyman for that. We didn't sign Thorn for that. There is my comparison.

The elephant in the room is that, despite finally getting a run of games, Snyman made zero impact at the business end of Munster's season.

Well, if he performs to the same level, either in quantity or quality, as he did for Munster last season, it certainly won't be a good signing.

I'm not sure if I need finger puppets or not here but I'll say it as clearly as I can.

He. Hasn't. Played. A. Single. Game. For. Us. Yet.

You've just said a load of ifs. We don't know anything yet.

He might be a bust. He might be the greatest ever signing. But people bitching and moaning about injury profile, previous form etc have absolutely no bearing on him until he actually starts playing.

Let the fella play a bloody game before letting the crystal ball opinions fly.

He's a double world cup winner. He's obviously an excellent player.

I'm not sure if I need finger puppets

A more coherent point would probably be more helpful tbh, but if you're more comfortable with finger puppets, go for it.

I don't need to see him play for leinster to consider it a bad signing. I don't recall this being a necessary criteria to call Barrett a good signing.

And this my friend is where I tap out.

You don't need to see a player play before considering it a bad signing?? 😂

There is a lot of barely moderated insanity on this site. But this post has to take the cake

Honestly, if Snyman has a handful of moments that are close to what he can do at his best in big games, even off the bench, Leo will look like a genius.

Trust the Leo... apart from when he signs a double WC winning lock

..

Played 4 seasons in Toulouse where he won the Top14 and the Champions cup.

He was a Toulouse registered player when he won the World Cup in 2019.

We’ve heard a lot about Snyman being a top class double World Cup winning lock. Maybe some context would be useful.

Snyman has never started a Rugby Championship game. Ever. Not a single one.

The only RWC games that Snyman has started were against Canada and Namibia in 2019.

Snyman has barely started against tier 1 opposition either. He started against Wales this year, but let’s face it, Wales are awful right now. He started against Argentina in the RWC warm ups in 2019. You need to go back to November 2018 to find the last time he started a Test match against quality opposition. He started vs Wales and Scotland that year, but not against France or England.

Snyman has 37 caps for South Africa, only 10 of which were starts. 3 of those starts came in his first season. Another 3 came in 2019 for the RWC (warm up game + 2 minnows).

This isn’t the profile of a world class lock. He has plenty of potential, but primarily through injury, hasn’t really turned that into very much. His performances this calendar year have been very underwhelming and he really doesn’t look match fit at all. It’s not a crazy opinion to hold that he isn’t the signing some are cracking him up to be.

I’m not completely sure tbh. As a bench option to bring some power in the latter stages of games? Helped no doubt by Neinabar being head coach. Overall I’m very concerned about where Leinster are at right now and am far from convinced that Neinabar suits us given how our attacking game absolutely collapsed last season.