Rugby World Cup final ‘outside the realm of thinking’ for Springbok months ago

Former Ireland international Jean Kleyn admits that winning the Rugby World Cup title with his native South Africa is something which he was not thinking about just months ago.

The 30-year-old, who plies his trade with 2022/23 United Rugby Championship winners Munster, was part of Ireland’s 2019 Rugby World Cup squad under Joe Schmidt after qualifying on residency grounds.

But, after being repeatedly overlooked by Schmidt’s successor Andy Farrell, Kleyn was cleared to switch allegiance back to South Africa earlier this year, before being included in the Springboks’ squad for this year’s global showpiece in France.

Boks eyeing fourth Rugby World Cup final triumph

South Africa, who are the reigning World Cup champions, are on course to retain their title going into Saturday’s final against fellow three-time winners New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris.

“I think I’ve caught myself thinking about it probably too often,” Kleyn said of his curious Test career.

“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, who joined Munster from the Stormers in 2016, made five Test appearances for Ireland in 2019, winning his final Test cap in their 47-5 pool stage win over Samoa in Fukuoka.

His lengthy spell in the international wilderness allowed him to revert to the Boks, a decision he feared may be met with criticism.

But the response in his adopted nation has been overwhelmingly positive and grown since Ireland’s 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final departure to the All Blacks.

“I’ve been absolutely inundated with messages from Munster supporters – obviously only after Ireland fell out,” said 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.”

Kleyn might be watching the final from the stands at the Stade de France this weekend as he has been restricted to just one start at the global showpiece – South Africa’s 76-0 victory over Romania during the pool phase of the tournament.

His only other appearance was when he came off the replacements bench during the Springboks’ 13-8 Pool B defeat to Ireland.

Still in the hunt for the title

While the Boks lost that epic battle, they could still win the war.

“Obviously it was a pity for us the result didn’t go our way but here we are in the end still,” said Kleyn.

“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.”

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