After the Joey Carbery news, earlier in the week, this was the last thing Munster needed.
Professional rugby is back and the injuries were not too far behind. Munster fans will now anxiously await news on RG Snyman and Dave Kilcoyne.
Just ahead of the Guinness PRO14 encounter with Leinster and Munster, which marked the resumption of the pro game here after a season break of almost six months, the southern province lost James Cronin from their starting XV.
Cronin was replaced by Dave Kilcoyne, with Jeremy Loughman drafted onto the replacements bench. Within seven minutes of the game starting, Loughman was on the pitch and facing a long front row shift.
Munster gave debuts to South African World Cup winners RG Snyman and Damian De Allende but the giant lock lasted as long as Kilcoyne. Snyman pounced to steal a Leinster lineout but landed awkwardly and injured his ankle.
RG Snyman of Munster leaves the field with an injury during the Guinness PRO14 Round 14 match between Leinster and Munster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)SUB | Hugely disappointing to see with RG & Killer both off.
Jean Kleyn & Jeremy Loughman are on on 7'.#LEIvMUN
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) August 22, 2020
TV footage of the incident shows Snyman stealing the ball ahead of Caelan Doris only to land jarringly. His knee is at an odd angle upon landing so that could be the key concern:
Munster forced into two early changes with Dave Kilcoyne and RG Snyman are replaced by Jeremy Loughman and Jean Kleyn.
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #GuinnessPRO14 #LEIvMUN pic.twitter.com/3EphJoDjKR
— eir Sport (@eirSport) August 22, 2020
Huge blow for munster to lose Synman and Kilcoyne after only 7 minutes to injury #LEIvMUN
— Bernard Jackman (@bernardjackman) August 22, 2020
Dropping our world cup winning lock onto our prop is a cunning strategy #LEIvMUN
— Kate McEvoy (@ImKateMc) August 22, 2020
Snyman broken at first lineout. That's why we can't have nice things. 😟 #LEIvMUN
— Daryl Feehely (@dfeehely) August 22, 2020
Munster head coach Johann Van Graan was forced into more changes, with Loughman coming in at loosehead and Jean Kleyn replacing Snyman.
Munster fans were only coming to terms with the news, confirmed earlier in the week, that Carbery would miss the rest of the 2019/20 season and would be out “indefinitely”.
They will be hoping for brighter news on Cronin, Kilcoyne and Snyman in the coming days.
