Munster Rugby's strong ties with South Africa's historic World Cup final success

THERE are several strong Munster Rugby links with South Africa's history-making back-to-back Rugby World Cup winning side.

The Springboks' retained their title with a nail-biting 12-11 victory over New Zealand at Stade de France in Paris on Saturday night.

The victory means South Africa are the most successful nation in men’s World Cup history with their fourth crown nudging them clear of the All Blacks who lost captain Sam Cane to a red card in the 28th minute of the decider.

Two Munster Rugby players, Jean Kleyn, who has previously played with Ireland, and RG Snyman were sprung from the replacements' bench for South Africa during the second half of their World Cup final success. Both players made significant contributions to the Boks' nail-biting win during their 25 minutes on the pitch.

Thirty-year-old Kleyn has now won six caps for South Africa while 28-year-old Snyman has been capped 33 times for the Springboks and scored a crucial try in their one-point World Cup semi-final win over England.

Former Munster player Damien de Allende, who has won 77 caps for the World Cup winners, started the showpiece fixture in the centre.

There is also a strong link between Munster Rugby and the South African coaching team.

Former Munster Rugby player Felix Jones is an assistant coach with the Springboks. Jones was also a key member of their backroom team for their 2019 World Cup success.

Former full-back Jones, who also played club rugby with Shannon RFC while at Munster, won 13 caps for Ireland between 2011 and 2015.

He made 90 Munster appearances, scoring 10 tries, and won a Magners League title in 2011.

Following his playing career Jones took on a technical coach role with Munster in 2016, which led to a two-year contact the following summer, overseeing the back-line and attack. He departed the province in 2019 and joined the Springboks coaching team.

Jones is set to join the England coaching team next year as an assistant coach.

Meanwhile, South Africa's Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus also previously held the same role at Munster Rugby, while South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber worked as defence coach with Munster.

The pair joined Munster at the start of July 2016 and helped guide the province to a Guinness Pro12 final and Champions Cup semi-final.

Erasmus and Nienaber departed Munster after 16 months to return to South Africa. Nienaber is now set to join Leinster as senior coach.