World Cup winners are hot property

TRANSFER NEWS: The market value of South African players has skyrocketed since last month's World Cup victory, with at least two Ireland-based Springboks being courted by teams from France and South Africa.

With Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman both in the last year of their contracts with Munster, talk has turned to the possibility of their departure from Limerick.

It is uncertain if 28-year-old Snyman will play for the Irish province again.

The 34-times capped World double World Cup winner will undergo surgery for a shoulder injury he suffered in the 12-11 win over New Zealand in the Final at Stade de France.

Munster coach Graham Rowntree expects a 'lengthy' lay-off.

"Ultimately we'll have to see what the surgeon finds when he goes in there," Rowntree told the Irish media.

"That'll give us an exact timeline, but it's going to be months, not weeks.

"We are devastated for him. He can't get a break," he said about Snyman - who has played just 10 games for the Irish outfit since his arrival in late 2019, with a succession of injuries limiting his game time to just 260-odd minutes in four years.

"He came in late [last season], had a late run, himself and Tadhg Beirne to the season last year.

"The way he's played for South Africa in the World Cup, he's been a real force. I'm gutted for him, gutted for him."

South Africa's Afrikaans weekly newspaper Rapport reported that at least two South African franchises are courting Snyman for a 'return home', while there is also interest from Europe and Japan.

In contrast, Kleyn, who is being courted by French clubs, has played 136 games for Munster since his move to Thomond Park in 2016.

That constitutes more than 8000 minutes for the Munstermen.

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Kleyn, now Test-tied to the Springboks after switching to the country of his birth in Ma, will be available for Munster in a fortnight.

However, Rowntree admitted it is going to be a battle to retain his services, now that he is no longer available for Ireland.

"I'd say that last week in May, after the [URC] Final - or it may have been early June - when Kleyn committed himself to South Africa, he became an NIQ, a non-Irish qualified player," Rowntree said.

"He knew, we knew, all parties knew, that it was going to be challenging keeping hold on him but those contract negotiations are ongoing and I can’t really comment any more on them.

"Of course [we'd like to keep him], of course, he was so important for us last season, look at the minutes he played.

"We knew it was going to be a challenging situation but hopefully we will get a bit more clarity on that soon enough, but it would be wrong for me to comment any more on it.

"Jean was sat in my office [last week].

"He's back from South Africa, back from his celebrations, crikey they did some celebrating."

Sources: Irish Examiner, balls.ie, extra.ie, rte.ie & Rapport