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Rugby World Cup final: South Africa's Jean Kleyn's remarkable journey from Ireland outcast to rugby's pinnacle

Jean Kleyn is one of seven forwards on South Africa's bench for Saturday's Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand; 30-year-old second row has enjoyed a remarkable comeback in Test rugby having played a peripheral role for Ireland at the tournament four years ago

Second row Kleyn has been named among South Africa's replacements for the Rugby World Cup final
Image: Second row Kleyn has been named among South Africa's replacements for the Rugby World Cup final

Earlier this week, Jean Kleyn admitted to daydreaming about his unlikely Test career perhaps more often than he should.

Conventional wisdom says World Cup final weeks ought to be one of laser-focus, but maybe there is some merit in pausing amid the rising tension to reflect on the road taken to reach the sport's very pinnacle.

On Saturday Kleyn is among South Africa's replacements, a fully-fledged member of the Bomb Squad. Being entrusted to form part of the Springboks' notorious replacement forwards unit is no small honour. This is the group expected to turn the screw, to tilt a tight match in their favour, just as they did against England in the semi-final.

The eyes of South Africa will be on Kleyn and the other six forwards on their bench as they seek to retain the World Cup. Owing to a truly extraordinary Test career, it is a position he had likely given up hope of ever finding himself in.

Four years ago Kleyn's World Cup ended in bitter disappointment. By the time South Africa lifted the Webb Ellis Cup, he had already been at home for a fortnight.

His tournament had ended in the quarter-finals, sitting in the stands in Tokyo having not made the matchday 23, watching New Zealand dismantle Ireland - the nation where his Test career began, and most assumed to have finished.

Kleyn played twice during Ireland's disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign in 2019
Image: Kleyn played twice during Ireland's disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign in 2019

Born and raised in Johannesburg, Kleyn left South Africa for Ireland in 2016, where he signed with Munster - then, perhaps tellingly, coached by the current Springboks brains trust of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber.

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Three years later, and just two days after he qualified to play for Ireland via the residency rule, he made his Irish debut in a World Cup warm-up game.

Soon after, Kleyn was named in Ireland's 31-man squad for Japan 2019. His selection came at the expense of Devin Toner, a stalwart of head coach Joe Schmidt's tenure and the shock omission from the travelling party.

To that point, Kleyn's performances with Munster had been solid but unspectacular, and his inclusion brought questions around the fairness of the residency rule back to the fore.

In the end he was no more than a peripheral figure as Ireland stumbled clumsily through the group stage before being ruthlessly dispatched by the All Blacks.

Kleyn played against Ireland, a nation he represented five times in 2019, earlier in the tournament
Image: Kleyn came up against Ireland earlier in the tournament in a bruising Pool B encounter

He started only once at the tournament, against Russia, and came off the bench once against Samoa, failing to make an impression on either occasion.

Kleyn was far from the cause of Ireland's problems, nor was he roundly blamed for their shortcomings. It was evident that their issues stretched far beyond his selection over Toner.

However, the surprising nature of his inclusion saw Kleyn become synonymous with the limp and dreadfully disappointing final chapter of Schmidt's Ireland.

As Andy Farrell picked up the reins and set course for a new era of Irish rugby, Kleyn was cast aside.

That replacement appearance against Samoa proved to be his last in the green of Ireland, and it seemed his contribution to the history of Test rugby had been written.

Back with Munster, he got to work. Despite increasingly impressive performances at club level, he never sufficiently caught the eye of Ireland's new coaching ticket.

However, Erasmus and Nienaber, the pair who first welcomed him to Irish shores, liked what they saw.

In July of this year, the South Africa coaches threw Kleyn an international lifeline.

Two years ago, World Rugby implemented a rule change to allow Test-capped players to represent a second international team after a period of three years of inactivity with their original country.

Having starred as Munster won last season's United Rugby Championship, Kleyn was named in the Springboks squad over the summer, and made his debut against Australia in early July.

It was, so admitted the 30-year-old this week, not something that had been on his radar for long.

"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," he said.

"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."

On Saturday night in Paris, Kleyn will scarcely have time to think, let alone reflect on the road he has taken to the World Cup final.

However, even he has admitted that in spite of all the mental preparation and fortitude required to prepare oneself for a game like this, it is a journey too remarkable to ignore as the hours tick down to kick-off.

A Test career that most thought had been tossed into the abyss in tandem with Ireland's 2019 World Cup campaign, is just 80 minutes away from achieving rugby's ultimate prize, in a different shade of green.

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