Springbok lock Jean Kleyn acknowledges being on the verge of becoming a world champion with his native South Africa was “outside the realm of thinking” just months ago.
Munster lock Kleyn represented Ireland under Joe Schmidt at the 2019 World Cup in Japan after qualifying on residency grounds.
“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.”
With the haka being a vital element on matchday between the arch-rivals, Kleyn said it was nothing new to the team, and that they were ready to face it as they usually do.
“It’s a fantastic tradition, and for us it’s part of playing a match against the All Blacks,” said Kleyn.
“The match we played against them at Twickenham was the first time I faced the haka. It was a great experience and we honoured it as a team. On Saturday we’ll line up against it as we always do and focus on the game.”
The response in Ireland has been overwhelmingly positive and grown since Ireland’s quarter-final exit at the hands of 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.”