SA-born Steyn looking to make his mark for Scotland against Springboks

SA-born Steyn aiming to shine for Scotland against Boks

JOHANNESBURG, November 11 (ANA) – The Scotland international rugby test match against the Springboks at Murrayfield, in Edinburgh, on Saturday, will hold extra significance for SA-born Kyle Steyn.

The 27-year-old 102kg winger – who is eligible to play for Scotland through his mother – is set to play a key role in the clash in which he will face the nation of his birth for the first time.

Born in Johannesburg in 1994, Steyn attended high school at Trinityhouse Randpark Ridge. He would go on to make his senior debut for Griquas in 2017, making 29 appearances and scoring 75 points.

In 2019 he made the move abroad, and signed with Glasgow Warriors in Scotland. Since then he has won 33 caps for Glasgow and scored 20 points.

His play at Glasgow earned him a call-up to the Scotland national team, as he won his first full cap against France in the Six Nations in March last year. Just under two weeks ago, Steyn started against Tonga and made headlines with four tries for Scotland.

In fact, prior to the match against Tonga, Steyn had battled a serious hamstring injury which had threatened to derail his fledgling career altogether.

“I had a mountain to climb,” Steyn told BBC Sport Africa. “At times I looked up and I thought, ‘that’s a very large mountain up there’. It was a dark time. I just felt like a gym rat doing rehab day after day. I wasn’t a rugby player any more, so what was I?

“A lot of good people helped me along the way – teammates, the staff at Glasgow, my fiancée, my family at home in South Africa. I was lucky I had so many people who had my back.”

Steyn’s father Rory, as it turns out, was in charge of VIP protection for Nelson Mandela when he became president of South Africa in 1994.

As a result, a rather young Kyle Steyn met Mandela on numerous occasions, and his link with South Africa therefore runs deep.

And he will have no greater stage than the one provided at Murrayfield over the weekend, to show his talent against the nation of his birth. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman