Springbok Andre Snyman battles brain tumour: Full Test stats

Former Springbok Andre Snyman has been diagnosed with a debilitating illness. A look back at his Test career in the green and gold jersey.

Dec 12, 2024 - 03:00

115

Springbok Andre Snyman battles brain tumour: Full Test stats

As reported by The South African website, former Springbok Andre Snyman has been diagnosed with a debilitating illness.

For the latest rugby news, bookmark The South African website’s dedicated section for free-to-read content

A GoFundMe fundraiser page has been set up to help financially with his surgery scheduled for early 2025.

Snyman, now 50, was born in Newcastle and attended Dannhauser Primary School before finishing off his schooling at Dundee High School.

He is the only Springbok produced to date by the KwaZulu-Natal based school.

Career highlights

During his school career, Snyman represented Natal in athletics and Northern Natal in rugby – attending the Craven Week in 1991 and 1992.

While studying at, and playing rugby for, the Pretoria Technikon, he was chosen to play rugby for the Northern Transvaal U21’s in 1993.

John Williams, the then Blue Bulls coach, spotted Snyman playing for the U21’s and selected him to play for the Blue Bulls in the centre position.

This was the start of an illustrious professional career for Snyman which saw him play for the Blue Bulls from 1994-1999, the Sharks from 2000-2003 and being capped for the Springboks on 38 occasions between 1996 and 2006.

Two horrific ankle injuries in 1999 and 2000 respectively, prevented him from achieving his ultimate goal in his career and that was to represent South Africa at a Rugby World Cup tournament.

However, during his 10 year career span with the Springboks, Snyman remained a stalwart in the centre and wing positions scoring 10 tries (50 points) in the green and gold jersey.

He will perhaps be best remembered for his hat-trick of tries in the Test against Tonga in Cape Town in 1997; and his breakaway “under the poles” try against England during the Test at Twickenham in November 1997.

Snyman took his rugby career to new levels when he joined the Leeds Tykes in England in November 2003.

He was one of the highest profile players to ever sign for the club, and during his time with the Leeds Tykes, he did not disappoint, entertaining the crowd with some outstanding performances that made him a crowd favourite and club legend.

He helped the team to be promoted to the Premiership in the 2003/2004 season and again in the 2006/2007 season after they had been relegated from the top flight at the end of the previous two seasons respectively.

Snyman announced his retirement from rugby in 2007 and played his last professional game of rugby for Leeds Tykes on 22 April 2007.

His formidable presence on a rugby field has been noticeably missed since his retirement.

Springbok stats

Full name: Andries Hendrik Snyman

Date of birth: 2 February 1974

Place of birth: Newcastle

School: Dundee

Springbok no: 636

Physical: 1.87m, 97.5kg

Test summary: Tests: 38 Tries: 10

First Test: 17 August 1996 – Outside Centre against New Zealand at Kings Park, Durban

Last Test: 17 Jun 2006 – Outside Centre against Scotland at Boet Erasmus Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Test history

Andre Snyman finished on the winning side in 26 of his 38 Tests for a win percentage of 68.4%.

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result
17 August 1996	New Zealand	Kings Park, Durban	Lost 23-19
24 August 1996	New Zealand	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Lost 33-26
16 November 1996	Argentina	Ferrocarril-Oeste Stadium, Buenos Aires	Won 44-21
15 December 1996	Wales	Millenium Stadium (Cardiff Arms Park), Cardiff	Won 37-20
10 June 1997	Tonga	Newlands, Cape Town	Won 74-10
21 June 1997	Britain	Newlands, Cape Town	Lost 25-16
28 June 1997	Britain	Kings Park, Durban	Lost 18-15
5 July 1997	Britain	Ellis Park, Johannesburg	Won 35-16
19 July 1997	New Zealand	Ellis Park, Johannesburg	Lost 35-32
2 August 1997	Australia	Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park), Brisbane	Lost 32-20
9 August 1997	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland	Lost 55-35
23 August 1997	Australia	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Won 61-22
8 November 1997	Italy	Dall’Ara Stadium, Bologna	Won 62-31
15 November 1997	France	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	Won 36-32
22 November 1997	France	Parc des Princes, Paris	Won 52-10
29 November 1997	England	Twickenham, London	Won 29-11
6 December 1997	Scotland	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	Won 68-10
13 June 1998	Ireland	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	Won 37-13
20 June 1998	Ireland	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Won 33-0
27 June 1998	Wales	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Won 96-13
4 Jul 1998	England	Newlands, Cape Town	Won 18-0
18 July 1998	Australia	Subiaco Oval, Perth	Won 14-13
25 July 1998	New Zealand	Athletic Park, Wellington	Won 13-3
15 August 1998	New Zealand	Kings Park, Durban	Won 24-23
22 August 1998	Australia	Ellis Park, Johannesburg	Won 29-15
14 November 1998	Wales	Wembley, London	Won 28-20
21 November 1998	Scotland	Murrayfield, Edinburgh	Won 35-10
28 November 1998	Ireland	Aviva Stadium (Lansdowne Road), Dublin	Won 27-13
5 December 1998	England	Twickenham, London	Lost 13-7
7 August 1999	New Zealand	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Lost 34-18
25 August 2001	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland	Lost 26-15
10 November 2001	France	Stade de France, Paris	Lost 20-10
1 December 2001	USA	Robertson Stadium, UH, Houston	Won 43-20
8 June 2002	Wales	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	Won 34-19
7 June 2003	Scotland	Kings Park, Durban	Won 29-25
19 July 2003	New Zealand	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Lost 52-16
10 June 2006	Scotland	Kings Park, Durban	Won 36-16
17 June 2006	Scotland	Boet Erasmus, Port Elizabeth	Won 29-15

Post retirement

After retiring from rugby, Andre Snyman moved into a successful coaching career in the United States, primarily at various levels in the Greater Denver area, while he has also spent time coaching at Hill House School in the United Kingdom.

Sadly, it has now been confirmed that Snyman has been diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, which is a tumour that grows inside the ear canal and affects the brain.

A fundraising page has a target of $30 000. At the time of publishing, a total of $2 820 has been pledged.

The narration states: “On October 18, 2024, former South African Springbok rugby player and current Valor Christian High School Rugby Club girls coach, Andre Snyman, was diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma (otherwise known as an acoustic neuroma).

“The side effects have been debilitating for Andre, and he is no longer able to drive or move without concern due to his balance being impacted. He will undergo surgery in mid-January to hopefully remove the tumor.

“While the recovery time is expected to be three months post-surgery, there are immediate challenges that Andre and his family are navigating – both medical and non-medical.

“To help alleviate the added pressure of this unexpected health crisis that Andre finds himself in, I have created this GoFundMe so that friends, members of the rugby community, colleagues, and those who feel so inclined are able to aid in his immediate time of need and post-surgery recovery.”