'My god, he’s a tough man' — Kleyn's powerful return reminds Munster what they've missed

Having made his first appearance on Irish soil for 18 months last week, South African lock has Reds fans and staff dreaming of the possibilities as he gets up to full speed

Sat, 28 Sep, 2024 - 06:30

Simon Lewis

There was much to enjoy about Munster’s opening gambit in the URC league campaign, not least the 35-33 victory over Connacht and the means by which they got over the line, eventually.

Yet for all the tightrope walking involved in overcoming their derby rivals, there was also something reassuring about a first game of the season which featured the imposing presence of a fit-again Jean Kleyn.

Munster supporters have missed the South African’s presence in the second row, their views restricted to a single performance last season as the returning World Cup winner managed just 68 minutes at Aviva Stadium against Leinster 10 months ago before an eye injury took him away again.

The knee surgery which was thrown in during that rehabilitation ended his 2023-24 campaign, all of which meant the 31-year-old, who had been previously seen helping Munster to URC Grand Final victory in Cape Town in May 2023, was making his first appearance on home soil in 18 months.

So much has changed since then, including Kleyn’s national allegiances - he was still Irish-qualified when he faced Glasgow in March 2023 – yet the 6ft 8in lock’s powerhouse performance against Connacht last Saturday was comfortingly familiar. Munster’s third try of the evening, just after half-time, saw him at his physical and tactical best, driving the maul that allowed Diarmuid Barron to launch himself towards the line, then following up to pick and go and send his huge frame in the same direction, punching a hole that created the space for John Hodnett to get the score.

Overall, it was an impressive 54-minute return to action and forwards coach Andi Kyriacou was purring about Kleyn’s contribution and his successful recovery from it that will allow the lock to maintain his second-row partnership with Fineen Wycherley at Zebre Parma on Saturday.

“I think mentally it was really good for him to get back out there and play,” Kyriacou told the Irish Examiner this week. “I think he’d openly admit training has been one of those things where it’s gone really well but then you have a couple of setbacks in terms of how you’re moving because you’re fatigued and you’re trying to cope with that load on load on load that you have to go through in pre-season going into the season.

“My god, he’s a tough man. You see the physical moments that he had within the game against Connacht, his maul game is monumental for us, he’s a key man for us in that area.

“I think he’d admit the tools aren’t fully sharpened yet in that area with being so long out but he’s effective and just week on week we’re going to see him improve and get better.”

That Kleyn was part of a lineout unit which overcame early teething problems against Connacht to be the weapon it can be was also comforting but Kyriacou knows it will need to further improve.

“It was two individual errors so we reviewed that and there’s a lot of honesty in our meetings. I think just the maturity of Fineen Wycherley to just calm everyone down, go back to calls that we know we’re on," he added.

“Great character from the lads, good mental toughness to park that, move on, get back into the game and I thought we just got better as the game went on.

“We have to be on point. We have to understand our roles, we have to be able to execute the skill under pressure and two of those went awry at the weekend but the two individuals have taken it on the chin and analysed it, we’re training it and trying to get them better. That’s what we do. We’re here to make lads better and perform at the highest level and they do that. They’ve got a great work ethic so we’ll see this area keep improving as the season moves on.”