RG Snyman says he wants to make every game count as he nears the end of his time at Munster, and the South African believes the province are timing their run well in their bid for back-to-back BKT United Rugby Championship titles.
Six wins in a row in the URC have taken Munster up to third place in the table with three rounds to go, with the defending champions looking well-placed for a home quarter-final.
Victories in their final three games could even see them climb up into the top two, which would ensure home advantage in a potential semi-final.
Should he stay fit, Snyman has anywhere from three to six more games left with the province before he makes the short trip up the M7 to join Leinster this summer.
The Springbok World Cup winner has endured a luckless run of injuries since he joined in the summer of 2020, making just 15 appearances for Munster in that time.
And the imposing lock says he's looking to make up for lost time in his final months at Thomond Park.
"It's the last bit that I can contribute to Munster, so as committed as I've been since the day I’ve got here, I just didn't have the opportunity [to play]," he told RTÉ Sport.
"It’s almost all of the chances I’ve missed, that I’m trying to put into the opportunity I do have now."
The 29-year-old's shock move to Leinster was confirmed in December, after Munster were unable to keep the non-Irish qualified second row to a third contract.
Snyman (above) admits to feeling nervous about how his future move to Munster's biggest rivals would be received by the supporters, but says any encounters with Munster fans around the province have been positive.
"It is what it is, and I expected things to go a certain way, but I must say the people have been really nice about it, and guys around the building have been very professional about it.
"When I bump into people on the street, they're very understanding of the situation, so I guess I’ll say it’s been very understanding from everyone, he added.
Since returning from surgery on a shoulder/chest injury after the World Cup, Snyman's been in outstanding form for Munster, scoring three tries in five games, and making his first full 80 minute performance in the most recent of those wins against the Lions in Johannesburg.
The province appear to be hitting top form at just the right time, and the second row believes they're well capable of repeating their title-run from 12 months ago.
"It's 100% the big motivation, especially after doing it last season. To go back-to-back in the URC with Munster would be brilliant.
"I definitely think so, especially looking at our last couple of games, and looking to the form we’re in at the moment. We need to stick together and just take care of ourselves and keep our feet on the ground and keep working.
"Especially in the URC now we’ve had a good run of games, the time in South Africa we used really well, and referred back to what we did in South Africa last year, it was the thing that kickstarted our season last year.
"We tried to do something similar this season, and I think we ended up doing very well over there. It was just a great time for us to be together for the two weeks over there and spend some more time together. I think we took a lot of confidence from that," he added.
The Springbok is likely to continue in the starting side this week for the visit of Connacht to Thomond Park on Saturday evening (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), which will remarkably be his first appearance in an interpro for Munster since he suffered his first anterior cruciate ligament injury on his debut against Leinster in August 2020.
"I’m very much looking forward to it, and very much looking forward to being back at Thomond Park. It’s a very special place to play, and you can see the opportunities to play there in the red jersey are getting less and less. I’m very excited for the opportunity.
"We definitely spoke about it this morning, the importance of this game this weekend. Especially after the last game we played Connacht, they’ll come to Thomond Park this weekend looking to make a statement, and we’re very aware of that.
"We’ll be as prepared as we can be, and we’ll look forward to the challenge."
Watch Munster v Connacht in the URC on Saturday from 4.45pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
