Excitement builds around the return of Carbery and Snyman

THERE is an added energy and excitement around the corridors of Munster’s High Performance Centre in Limerick this week.

Last Friday, the sight of Joey Carbery ending his 13-month spell out with a troublesome ankle brought a welcome relief to everyone associated with the province and that was followed on Monday by RG Snyman running for the first time since he tore his ACL on his Munster debut last August.

The towering Snyman posted a clip on social media of him running on the training pitch, which reminded us of those joyous videos that often do the rounds of animals bouncing out in the spring grass after being kept sheltered during the winter.

Carbery (right) and Snyman have spent countless hours together in the rehab room over the last year, and while the out-half’s patience has paid off, his South African teammate will have to wait a little longer before he makes his return.

No one needs to be reminded of how the talented international duo can seriously enhance Munster’s already evolving game-plan, which is why supporters are relishing the prospect of seeing Carbery and Snyman playing in the same team.

Carbery will hope to start Friday night’s important PRO14 clash at home to Connacht, but Johann van Graan might well be inclined to continue to ease him back.

“I think the best way to say it is that Joey has just been himself, quietly confident, very responsive, very alert, doing his preparation as he would do normally,” the Munster head coach said.

“You wouldn’t think that he was out of the game for a very long time.

“That’s just the nature of his character, very laid-back, very focused, he doesn’t speak a lot but when he speaks he says the right things, specifically in his position. In terms of where he’s at, he’s in a very good space. “He’s aligned to the plan with everybody involved and I think the most important thing for Joey is Munster and that’s for Munster to be successful.

“He’s in a good place and like everybody in this building is really looking forward to the coming months.”

Even if it was just a 16-minute cameo off the bench in Cardiff last weekend, Carbery looked sharp. With so much bad news in the world at the moment, it’s no wonder Van

Graan is as excited as the Munster supporters about what the future might hold.

“You just have to look at Joey’s upper body and see that he’s had a very long time in the gym. He looks in fantastic physical form,” he added.

“In terms of the rugby part of his development, Joey is a true pro. That’s why he started playing international rugby at a very young age.

“He’s a very good example to others so I think the biggest credit I can give him is that he’s exactly the same as he was before he was injured, very focused and quietly confident as to where he and this team needs to go.”