Jenkins' recall clouds RG Snyman's Bok future: 'Is this guy going to make it to the World Cup?'

• While they were once touted as future Springbok lock duo, Jason Jenkins and RG Snyman are now competing for each others' Springbok spot. 
• Jenkins, a one-cap Bok previously hampered by injuries, has been in prime form for Irish giants Leinster and is relatively versed in the national setup's tactics.
• Rassie Erasmus admits that part of Jenkins' selection is because the Bok have to move on from Snyman, who still looks no closer to a competitive return.

There was a time when Jason Jenkins and RG Snyman - as Bulls teammates - were expected to form a potentially peerless lock combination for the Springboks.

But life's inevitable twists and turns now sees the two men - who've both had major injury troubles - essentially competing for each other's spot in the national squad, a fact even Rassie Erasmus admitted to.

On Friday, Jenkins was confirmed as one of the few interesting selections for the end-of-year tour to Europe, which commences with a white-knuckle affair against Ireland in Dublin.

Incidentally, the former St Albans pupil now calls the Irish capital his hometown since joining Leinster, where he's been terrorising opponents in this season's URC campaign to date, enough to convince the national team's management to reward him with a recall.

"Jason has a cap for South Africa, ironically our first Test in charge as a group in 2018. After that, he left abroad and just had a bad run with injuries, especially once he joined Munster," said Bok head coach Jacques Nienaber.

"He played 10 games and only started 20% of them. This year, he's played five matches for Leinster and he's playing good, consistent rugby. He's starting games and finishing them too, he's really playing good rugby."

It's confirmation of the esteem he's been held in despite only having one Test cap to his name.

As former Wales and Lions hooker Robin McBryde noted earlier this month, the fact that Leinster - nowadays notoriously diligent when it comes to remotely recruiting foreign players - came knocking for him despite his disrupted campaign with Munster vividly illustrates his potential worth.

"I'm sure they would have done their due diligence with regards to trying to sign somebody, but he sees the game differently. He's South African. That's the beauty of having a good mix of Kiwis or wherever players come from. They see the game differently," he said.

"It was very hard for him to hit the ground running right from the word go, without having had those minutes under his belt. Now that he has a clean bill of health, he's playing really well. I think he'll keep on growing, he'll keep getting better. He has made an impact right from the word go."

Despite the excitement emanating from his inclusion, there was a fair tinge of disappointment in Erasmus' voice when highlighted that, at least for now, it's time to move on from 2019 World Cup cult hero Snyman. 

"With RG, we've been waiting on him because we know what a freak he is in terms of being an athlete. We know what we can do for us," said the national director of rugby.

"But the last time he played was in the 2019 World Cup. He's obviously been with us in camps, sharing a week or two with us to get up to speed, only be be struck by a setback again. 

"We have to start thinking about RG: 'Hell, is this guy going to make it to the World Cup or not?'. So we decided that we would be taking a big risk if we didn't explore another front lock option.

"Jason is someone who'll give us some of those answers."