Jean Kleyn’s strange yet fulfilling rugby journey takes him to a World Cup final

Finally, some 60km to the north of Paris on a rainy Monday, lo and behold, there in the Salle Jean d’Arc, amid the grey suburbs of Presles, was the first Irish international rugby player to be put in front of the media in the week of a World Cup final.

Not that you would begrudge Jean Kleyn one of the most unimaginable but fulfilling rugby journeys ever. For much of his childhood and early career, the South African-born lock naturally dreamed of playing for the Springboks.

Then, at 22, he relocated to Munster and in his refreshingly honest way revealed his ambition to play for Ireland via the eligibility ruling. Kleyn made his Irish debut in a warm-up game against Italy prior to Japan 2019, and played against England and Wales, before Joe Schmidt picked him in Ireland’s World Cup squad.

Kleyn played in the pool wins over Russia and Samoa, but thereafter was ignored by Andy Farrell. When World Rugby changed their laws to permit players to revert their international allegiance to their country of birth or ancestry after being stood down for three years, it was designed to benefit the Pacific Island countries.

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The implementation was delayed by Covid until the start of 2023. Even then Kleyn probably coveted an Ireland recall, and he was one of Munster’s best players in their URC-winning charge. Whereupon he was a surprise inclusion in the Springboks squad last June, and played in their opening Rugby Championship win over Australia.

At this World Cup, after playing the last half hour against Ireland, he won his sixth cap with the Springboks against Romania, and Rassie Erasmus could revert to a 6-2 split for Saturday’s final against the All Blacks, opening the door for Kleyn to be alongside Munster team-mate RG Snyman.

That would complete something of a surreal journey for the 30-year-old.

“I think I’ve caught myself thinking about it probably too often,” Kleyn admitted. “It’s a strange one because if you asked me six months ago if I had at all thought that I had any chance of being here at a World Cup final and playing for the Springboks, I would have told you ‘you’re absolutely insane’.

“I’ll probably wake up when it’s all said and done, and think: ‘was that a dream or did that actually happen?’ It was outside of the realms of thinking,” he admitted with a smile.

“It’s been a fantastic journey for me. It’s been brilliant to have been part of the squad. To be honest it’s one of the best groups of players that I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with, working with and knowing. From players to staff to the medical team to the coaches, they’re all great people and they put in the hard work and they’re passionate about the game and passionate about South Africa. It’s been an absolute pleasure being a part of it.”

After Ireland’s 13-8 win over a month ago Tadhg Beirne revealed that his Munster team-mate cleared him out at a ruck with a good shot.

“You always try and get the lads you know,” admitted Kleyn with a wry smile. “It’s just one of those things. If you know someone a little bit better you always go a little bit out of your way just to see if you can get one over on them. I think me and RG (Snyman) got a good clear out on Tadhg once.

“But it was a good game. I really enjoyed it. Obviously it was a pity for us the result didn’t go our way but here we are, and at the end of the day no one really looks back and says ‘oh well, you lost a pool game.’ They’ll look at if you win the World Cup.”

Kleyn has built a home in Limerick, his brother Johan lives in Dublin, his parents live in England and his wife Aisling, from Galway, is here in Paris with their baby son Eli Noah, and was caught on camera during the Springboks’ win last Saturday.

“She was very embarrassed because she has this thing where whenever she sees herself on TV, she ducks down. Actually, the exact same thing happened to her at the URC final. She ended up becoming a meme there – ‘You tell your boss you’re at work or you’re sick but you go the URC final’ or something like that.

“So that’s now two playoffs in a row where she’s been caught on the big screen. She’s been with us since the Tonga game, so it’s been fantastic having my family with me.”

His selection ahead of Devin Toner four years ago drew plenty of criticism – although it wasn’t Kleyn’s decision – and even his inclusion in the Springboks’ World Cup squad had some Irish people agitated, although it was as much an anti-rugby thing. But when asked if he’s had support from Munster, Kleyn said: “Tons. I’ve been absolutely inundated with messages from Munster supporters.

“Obviously, only after Ireland fell out,” he added tongue-in-cheek. “Then they really came after us and said, ‘you’re our second team now, guys.’ The support is really well felt and really heartfelt as well from a lot of Munster fans.

“I think it made it a lot easier for me because, to be honest, I thought it would be quite a negative reaction when I played for the Springboks from, I suppose, my history with the Irish media. I figured there would be a few negative articles, but it was really positive, and I was really happy about that. It made it a lot easier for me.”

Good to hear.