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Former Ireland lock Jean Kleyn on how he feels about them now
Carrying the distinct honour of having donned the green of Ireland at the last Rugby World Cup, and now proudly wearing a slightly different shade of green with the World Champion Springboks, Jean Kleyn’s rugby journey has been anything but normal.
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While his former team – who South Africa narrowly lost to – are preparing for a crunch match with rivals Scotland, Kleyn was candid.
“We’re probably going to see Ireland win, but just because the Irish beat us last week I’d say I’d like to see Scotland win over them (laughs).
“No, realistically speaking, we’ll probably see Ireland come out victorious there. They’re a very good team at the moment.
“There’s a high level of attrition. There’s a little bit of animosity between the Irish and the Scots and there always has been, especially from a rugby perspective.
“At club level, you look at teams like Munster and Glasgow there’s always been this underlying – I wouldn’t call it hatred – but there’s a little bit of knife in the back.
“There’s a real combative thing about it. For Ireland and Scotland (tests), it’s even more so. It’s very much magnified at international level. Everything’s a little bit closer to the bone and everything’s a little bit more real. I think it’s going to be a serious match.”
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The Springboks are permitted to have their families present in France, a luxury not afforded to all teams.
“A lot of other countries don’t have that opportunity. When I was with Ireland in 2019 it was not something we were afforded to do. It’s been absolutely fantastic having our families with us. Any man is only as good as the people standing behind him.
“For me personally, to have my wife and son with me, it’s been an absolute joy. Although with an eight-month-old baby, you don’t sleep all the time but it’s still worth it.
“We’re four months into our block that we’ve been with the Springboks. It’s a very long time, I don’t think it would be manageable if we couldn’t have our families with us.
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“It’s good that all the wives and girlfriends are so included, they get to see each other as well. You form deeper bonds through that.”
Reflecting on his rugby journey, Kleyn expressed his gratitude for having represented both Ireland and South Africa.
“It was a great honour and a pleasure to play for Ireland in 2019. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was something I will always hold with me. Now being offered this opportunity which, honestly I never thought would come along, especially after representing Ireland in 2019 – besides that point I didn’t ever picture myself as being good enough for some reason. It’s been one of the greatest honours of my life to now represent the Springboks after having represented Ireland as well.”
On the season with Munster helping him get into the South Africa team, and whether there was a chance to be called back into the Ireland camp before he committed to the Springboks:
“I spoke to Paulie (Paul O’Connell) before my call-up to the Springboks and they said I had a good season and had I been involved earlier on they might have gone for me, but I think at that stage we’d all sort of made up our minds – they’d decided what they were going to do and I’d decided what I was going to do.
“When you have a good season everyone looks at you a little bit differently. I’m just fortunate that Rassie (Erasmus) and Jacques (Nienaber) looked at me in a way that got me here.”
South Africa are blessed with second rowers, one of which was with Kleyn at Munster, RG Snyman. The giant 2019 World Cup winner overcame repeated ACL injuries and personal hardships to return to rugby at the highest level.
“He had repeated ACL (injuries) which is pretty much a death sentence to most rugby players. In that time he had some family loss, which was terrible, and the accident with the fire as well. He went through an incredibly tough time.
“He’s a good friend of mine. I can’t tell you just how impressed I was with his outlook on life. He was always positive, always tried to add – even though he was two years out of rugby. If you speak to anyone at Munster they will give you testament to the impact he has had at the club, and he’s only played 10 games or something, of which most of them were this season.
“He’s as head-strong a guy as I have ever met and probably likely will ever meet. Credit to him, he went though absolute war and came out on top.
“You could see at Munster the impact he had when he came into the team towards the end of the season. Without him we wouldn’t have seen the result we saw because he was instrumental in all the games leading up to and in the final.
“You can see that as well in being called up to the Springboks after virtually not playing rugby for three years. That takes some doing.”
On whether the 9pm kick-off means a lot of nervous energy in the day leading up to the game:
“It’s just a case of not switching on too early. You wake up, you’ll have your breakfast, go out for a cup of coffee or have a walk around – do something with your morning to break up the day.
“The last day we only started at two o’clock. Two o’clock start to a day, you’ve got a lot to time to burn before that.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of nervous energy, the guys deal with it each in their own way. Obviously it would be better to have a seven o’clock or a five o’clock so you can just get it over and done with, but I don’t mind it.”
South Africa will likely face either France or New Zealand in the quarter finals. Ireland vs Scotland this weekend will determine who goes through and in what position.
