Former Ireland player Jean Kleyn has revealed that being involved in a World Cup Final for his native South Africa was “outside the realm of thinking” only a few months ago.
Second row Kleyn, who still plays for Munster in the United Rugby Championship, played for Ireland at the 2019 World Cup on residency grounds having spent just over three years in the country at the time.
But having not represented the Emerald Isle for a further three years under the stewardship of Andy Farrell, he cleared the criteria to play for the Springboks owing to the fact he was born in South Africa and had stood down from international rugby for the requisite 36 months under rules brought in by World Rugby in 2021.
“I think I’ve caught myself thinking about it probably too often,” Kleyn said of his Test career to date.
“It’s a strange one because if you’d asked me six months ago if I at all thought I had any chance of being here at the World Cup final playing for the Springboks, I would have told you you are absolutely insane.
“I’ll probably wake up when it’s all said and done and think, ‘was that a dream or did it actually happen?’. It was outside the realm of thinking.
“It’s been a fantastic journey for me. It’s been an absolute pleasure being part of it.”
Kleyn played for Ireland five times, all in 2019, having joined his province in 2016. His appearances came only in warm-up games for the Rugby World Cup, and at the tournament itself where he played twice against Russia and Samoa.
After nearly four years in the international wilderness he missed out on even Ireland’s extended squad for this year’s event, joining South Africa’s training camp in June following approval from World Rugby.
And after playing four times for the Springboks in the lead up to the World Cup, he has played twice in France with a win against Romania and loss against his former nation to show from another tournament playing in green.
Though he was disappointed with the defeat, he reflects on the game positively and is focused on the squad effort to claim the William Webb Ellis Cup for a fourth time this Saturday.
“Obviously it was a pity for us the result didn’t go our way but here we are in the end still,” he added.
“No-one really looks back and says ‘you’ve lost a pool game’. They’re going to look if you win the World Cup.
“We were disappointed with the result back then but happy with where we are now. It was a fantastic game to be a part of. I enjoyed every minute.”
Kleyn is unlikely to feature in the final, having not been selected for the Boks since that defeat, but appears glad that he has the opportunity to be involved in a potentially World Cup winning squad.
He was also grateful from the warm response his involvement in the tournament had received from back home in Ireland, where supporters and reporters alike had been positive about his selection for another nation at the tournament.
“I’ve been absolutely inundated with messages from Munster supporters – obviously only after Ireland fell out,” added Kleyn.
“Then they really came after us and said, ‘listen, you’re our second team now, guys’.
“The support was really heartfelt from a lot of Munster fans and it made it a lot easier for me because I thought it would be quite a negative reaction when I declared for the Springboks.
“From my history with Irish media, I figured there would be a few negative articles but it was resoundingly positive, so I was really happy about that.”
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