Inside noise the only one that counts for settled Munster man Jean Kleyn 

BLOCKING OUT THE NOISE: Jean Kleyn. Pic: INPHO/Evan Treacy

Life is good on and off the pitch right now for Jean Kleyn. The Munster team he joined in 2016 is re-energised and playing the rugby he enjoys, his family life is both contented and exciting, and his mobile phone is happily free of any outside noise that could hamper either of his professional or personal lives.

About to become a father for the first time at the age of 29, Kleyn is in one of those pinch yourself frames of mind as he looks back on his decision to quit his native South Africa and travel to Limerick and a life he did not think was possible, not least marrying Galway girl Aisling and having his brother and parents follow him north.

Of the impending birth, due in the next week or two, Kleyn says: "We're looking forward to it, it's going to be one of life's great adventures. We're really looking forward to it.

“Jeez, if you had told me when I was 21 that nine years later I’d be sitting in Ireland… I’ve a baby coming now in the next two weeks as well, just moved into a house we just finished building, so there’s been a lot that’s happened in the last 12 months for me in my personal life.

“I’ve a brother who lives up in Dublin, my parents are living over in the UK. Like, my entire world has changed through my move to Munster. It’s an odd one but it’s incredibly heartening to know the move at the start was worth what’s happening now.

“Where I am now in my life, I’ve great friends, I’m part of a great club, a great community. It’s weird to think how much time has passed and how much has happened since I arrived here first.

“I don’t think I ever had what I have now in mind for myself but everything I have now I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.” 

With a tough European pool tie at Toulouse looming on Sunday afternoon, the potential for that feeling to change could be considerable for someone of lesser mental strength but Kleyn learned the hard way to cut out the noise, both good and bad, that accompanied his every performance for Munster. 

His selection for Ireland ahead of established lock Devin Toner in Joe Schmidt’s 2019 World Cup squad was a tipping point in that regard, exposing him to the dark side of social media commentary from which has since divorced himself.

“I said this years ago, during that World Cup thing I spent too much time listening to what the outside world was saying was going well and believing it. Then you work yourself into the mind-frame of well, the outside noise determines my happiness.

“It’s like a dopamine rush, you know, you get this rave review after a match and it’s ‘jeez, that’s great, everybody loves me and I feel really good about myself’. Then as always happens, eventually you have a shocker and all of a sudden everyone’s on your back and you feel terrible.

“Then, on top of that, you don’t bounce back from that because you’re in this rut and because you’re in a rut you play poorly and you get more bad reviews and it’s like an endless cycle.

“So the best thing I ever did was just get rid of it all and say ‘c’est la vie, let them be’. They can say what they want to say. I’m here, I’m doing my bit, enjoying my rugby and listening to what’s inside these four walls (at Munster).

“It seems to work with me.” 

The noise inside the Munster camp at the moment is all positive and with good reason after the team turned a corner following a terrible start to the season, winning seven of their last nine games and three in a row in 2023. Kleyn is gratified that the performances that produced those victories finally reflected the change in direction the squad had taken under new head coach Graham Rowntree and the players were beginning to reap the rewards of their improved fitness and skills.

“Absolutely. I think getting the win away at Ulster (on January 1) is massive for us mentally as a club. Edinburgh (on December 2) was our first away win in something like seven months and I thought we played phenomenally there and then Ulster, to go up there and beat Ulster on their home ground, it’s massive for the team in terms of belief.

“So you build this momentum and then when you get to a game where you lose a player to a red card after 20 minutes (against Northampton Saints last Saturday) and you have to bite the bullet and hang in there for 60 minutes and you do it and it creates more belief.

“Within the team it means so much to us that all our hard work is starting to pay off now. It’s the fruits of your labour and when you start seeing results from all the hard work you’ve been doing and all the training sessions and getting flogged like a dog you really start enjoying the hard work as well.

“Not that it was even unenjoyable but you start relishing that opportunity that you get where, I wouldn’t say I ever sprint but I run as fast as I can, do you know what I mean? You get those opportunities to bolt down the line and you know that the harder I work here the better I’ll do on Saturday.

“That’s something that really creates a lot of enjoyment in the team for the hard work, when you get those wins.”