Andre Snyman

André Snyman

Personal information
Full name	Andries Hendrik Snyman
Born	(1974-02-02) 2 February 1974 Newcastle, South Africa
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	100 kg (15 st 10 lb)
School(s) attended	Dundee High School, Dundee
University	Pretoria Technicon
Club information
Playing position	Centre / Winger
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Pts)†
1995–99	Blue Bulls		()
1995–99	Bulls		()
2000–03	Sharks		()
2000–03	Template:Rut Natal Sharks		()
2004–06	Leeds Tykes		()
2006–07	Perpignan		()
Representative team(s)‡
1996–2006	South Africa (test)	38	()
1996–2006	South Africa (tour)	4	()
1997	S.A. Sevens		()
Teams coached
2011–	Glendale Raptors
* Senior club appearances and points correct as of 8 July 2015. † Appearances (Points). ‡ Representative team caps and points correct as of 8 July 2015.

Andries Hendrik Snyman (born 2 February 1974 in Newcastle, South Africa) is a South African rugby union former player and current coach. His usual position was inside centre, but he had success on the wing at international level. Snyman earned 38 Test caps for the South Africa national rugby union team.

Playing career

Snyman made his Springbok debut in 1996 against the All Blacks in Durban. He went on to play 38 times for the Springboks and played his final international test match against Scotland in June 2006. He played for the Blue Bulls from 1995 to 1999 and then joined the Sharks from 2000 to 2003. Snyman joined English club Leeds Tykes for the 2003 season. During his time at Leeds he helped them win the 2004–05 Powergen Cup. He later moved to France, signing with USA Perpignan for the 2006–07 season. However, Snyman returned to the Tykes on loan in December 2006 in order to help their National Division One campaign. He made his debut for the Tykes against Northampton, the same day England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He scored one of the Leeds tries in the famous Powergen Cup Final against Bath, intercepting a pass from 80 m. Snyman finally retired from professional rugby at the end of the 2007 season.

In 2012 and 2013, Snyman represented the United States of America at the Rugby World Classics Tournament in Bermuda.

Snyman represented the South African 7s team at the 1997 7s Rugby World Cup in Hong Kong where they lost to Fiji in the final, 24-21, - this is the only time, to date, that South Africa has finished better than 5th place since the start of the 7s RWC in 1993.

Coaching career

Snyman moved to the United States in 2011 and helped coach the Glendale Raptors, 2011's D1 club champions. In 2012, Snyman assumed the role of head coach and in 2014, Snyman led Glendale to an 11-1 regular-season record and into the finals of the Pacific Rugby Premiership, where they lost to San Francisco Golden Gate. He was also used as a defensive specialist for the USA Sevens team under head coach Matt Hawkins. In May 2015, Snyman and the Glendale Raptors redeemed themselves by winning the Pacific Rugby Premiership Championship, beating San Francisco Golden Gate, 25-11, after going 9-3 in regular season. Snyman was named Coach of the Pacific Rugby Premiership by This Is American Rugby for the second year running in 2015.

Honours

• Powergen Cup/Anglo-Welsh Cup titles: 1
  • 2005

External links

• Andre Snyman on sporting-heroes.net
• Andre Snyman on ercrugby.com