New recruit Rabah Slimani slotting right in at Leinster, says McBryde
Leinster assistant coach Robin McBryde has said that former French international prop Rabah Slimani has fitted seamlessly into the province’s squad ahead of their United Rugby Championship opener away to Edinburgh on Friday.
An option at both tighthead and loosehead, Slimani joined Leinster earlier this summer after bringing the curtain down on a seven-year stint with Top 14 outfit Clermont at the end of their 2023/24 campaign. In addition to spending nine years on the book of Stade Francais, the Sarcelles native (who turns 35 next month) also picked up 57 senior caps with France from 2013 to 2019.
It was during this period that McBryde encountered Slimani in his previous role as Wales forwards coach and he is pleased to now be part of the same set-up as him.
“He’s come in with a little bit of a mentoring role. I’m led to believe he’s the first French player to represent Leinster and it’s great to have that mix. He’s been very open about everything,” McBryde explained at a Leinster media briefing yesterday.
“Having coached against him, he played in 2017 against Wales where we beat them. We’d some interesting conversations [about that]. The longest game, something like 110 minutes where he managed to get back on the field somehow to [try] and get a result for France.
“He’s a good character, he has surprised a few with how good his handling skills are. He was even kicking off out of hand for the kick-off pods the other day. He’s got a couple of strings to his bow, but we need to keep him grounded a little bit and focus on the scrum.”
Along with Slimani and Jordie Barrett – who is set to join the province in December and will remain until the end of the 2024/25 season – ex-Munster lock RG Snyman has also been recruited to the Leinster squad for the new campaign.
Injury-plagued during his time in Munster, Snyman is currently working his way back from a foot problem that led to his late withdrawal from South Africa’s team for their opening round clash with Australia in The Rugby Championship last month. While he won’t feature against Edinburgh in Hive Stadium this weekend, McBryde is hopeful he will be available for selection sooner rather than later.
“RG took a full part in the forwards unit’s session today [yesterday]. Obviously his next progression will be building up to be able to take a full part in training. I’d say over the next couple of weeks, hopefully we’ll see him.”
Although further assessment will be required before a final decision is made on his possible selection for Friday’s game, McBryde stated that Jamison Gibson-Park – who missed out on Ireland’s summer tour of South Africa with a hamstring injury – took a full part in squad training on Monday.
Whichever team is selected for their visit to the Scottish capital, Leinster will be hoping to avoid a repeat of how they started the 2023/24 edition of the United Rugby Championship – when eventual winners Glasgow Warriors recorded a 43-25 victory at their expense in Scotstoun Stadium.
“It was a game that we could have and maybe should have won. We crossed the line and got held up on a couple of occasions. It was by fine margins we ended up losing that game,” McBryde recalled.
“It has been great from the point of view of having someone like Jack Conan, who has been with us since the start of pre-season to impart his knowledge and his experience, his leadership. There’s been plenty going on, but every point counts so we are going to have to come away with something.”