Jean Kleyn: 'There's animosity between the Irish and the Scots'

INSIDE SCOOP? Jean Kleyn. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Jean Kleyn never got to face Scotland during his short stint playing with Ireland but the Springbok second row believes there is a level of animosity between two Celtic sides that meet in a crucial World Cup encounter in Paris this week.

The 30-year old has been with Munster since 2016 and the basis for his theory appears to be the controversy from January 2017 when there were claims that Gregor Townsend’s Glasgow side had deliberately targeted the standing leg of Conor Murray.

The current Scotland head coach subsequently dismissed the suggestion after that Heineken Champions Cup tie but Kleyn reached back into the archives when asked this week about the rivalry between South Africa’s main rivals in Pool B.

“There’s a high level of attrition,” he explained from the Boks’ base in Toulon. “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.” 

Kleyn played five times for Ireland under Joe Schmidt, the last of those caps earned at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, but new World Rugby eligibility rules meant he could be drafted into the South Africa setup this summer.

His form for Munster during their URC-winning season was superb but he never got a call-up under Andy Farrell who preferred to look at the young Leinster lock Joe McCarthy as the last of his second rows for this tournament.

“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.” 

The world champions have played all four of their pool games and will have a watching brief this weekend as Ireland and Scotland go toe to toe in the Stade de France. Only a Scottish win of freak proportions would send the Boks home.

“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,” he laughed. “No, realistically speaking, we’ll probably see Ireland come out victorious there. They’re a very good team at the moment.”