It will be a milestone evening also for Jean Kleyn, who is set to make his 150th Munster appearance following a 2016 move from the Stormers, and the South African World Cup winner is preparing to take on senior status when his older comrades head for the exit. There is plenty of rugby left in the 31-year-old lock, who was on Thursday one of 18 overseas-based players called up to join Rassie Erasmus’s training squad for next week’s Springbok alignment camp. Yet Kleyn acknowledged something akin to the end of an era at Munster with so much experience moving on. “From when I arrived here nine years ago, August 8, 2016, at the end of this season there will be three lads left that were here when I arrived, Jack O'Donoghue, Niall Scannell and John Ryan,” Kleyn said. “They are the last three who were here when I rocked up, so we are coming to the end of that era, aren't we now? “Everyone else who preceded me, there is the last few of us who are left and then Archie, Murr, Pete, they are really the last of the old brigade if I can put it that way, you obviously have Killer as well. “He is unfortunately retiring due to injury but it is very much now the old brigade are heading out and I find myself now being the old brigade which you don't think you will ever get there. “Next year it will be pretty much just John Ryan who is older than me and Tadhg (Beirne), of course, he still has a year on me, I think. It is strange to think that there will be very few left. Of those who were here when I arrived.” That Kleyn is still in Munster red almost a decade later, having also represented Ireland at the 2019 World Cup before World Rugby rules allowed him to declare for his country of birth four years later, does not surprise him. He was all in from the start, he explained. “You know, I think when I came over here I didn't come with the expectation of doing a few years and moving on. I think if I had I would have failed. “My entire thought process with it was that I would always commit to where I was playing and I did that to as much of an extent as I could. “When I was at the Stormers I was there for the Stormers until the opportunity came along to leave and I think here, even though there were opportunities to leave, I think I just loved the place and the people and I just sort of fell in love with the culture and obviously also fell in love with an Irish woman so that was a strong motivator to stay. “I think when I came over I was going to give it a good go, it was never going to be a short stint and then head off to the next happy place. I never wanted to be a journeyman. I always saw myself as being connected to one or two clubs maybe, but never three years at every club kind of thing.” With a 10th season as a Munsterman in the offing and a leadership vacuum to be filled, Kleyn does not necessarily feel a responsibility to step up in that regard. He points to the leadership qualities of younger men such as Craig Casey and Alex Kendellen comfortable in taking that on. “It is not necessarily just an age thing. It's very much a natural leadership thing. The interesting thing about rugby is that everyone is a leader because we are all big personalities, we are all strong-willed, we are all naturally competitive. “You end up being in a room full of people who actually want to lead. You have to find your way. Your version of leadership might look extremely different from someone else's. I don't think I tend to be overly vocal. I do speak when I feel I need to, but there are fellas who fill that role and there are fellas who lead through actions. I try to be a good example where I can.”