Rory Steyn has seen a lot of great moments in his life, most of them in sport. He was at the side of Nelson Mandela when he got inaugurated as president, a trusted head of his security detail for many years.
He was sitting on the All Black bench at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final on a day when hope seemed strong and the future bright. He has probably been to more sports events than you and I as part of his security business.
He watched Wayde van Niekerk break the 400m world record and take gold in Rio. He’s hung out with Mark Cavendish. He has a Comrades green number. He’s run marathons on all seven continents.
None of those moments, though, would have compared to watching his son, Kyle, make his first full international start for Scotland last Saturday. Against Tonga, Kyle scored four tries, the first time a Scottish player has ever done that at Murrayfield.
Rory would have known how hard his son has worked to get here at the age of 27, what he has overcome to run out in the colours of the land of his mother, Gillian.
After coming off the bench for the last 13 minutes in the 28-17 win over France at Murrayfield in March 2020, the second-last international match before the Six Nations was curtailed due to lockdown, Kyle picked up an injury that would keep him out of the game for the best part of a year. He tore his hamstring off the bone in August 2020, then, during rehab, it happened again. He returned for the first time in May in the Rainbow Cup.
“Kyle was involved the last time we had crowds here, against France in 2020. I think it was only seven minutes [actually 13] he got off the bench but he played really well. I remember a great tackle and a kick-chase,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said.
“He was due to be on the bench the following week as we headed to Cardiff [game off over Covid-19] and he’s never had the opportunity to get that second cap due to injury.
“So to be able to start, play well and set some records as well with his try-scoring is brilliant. I’m told four tries at Murrayfield is the highest there’s ever been. He’s a great guy to have in the squad, he works very hard, he’s very diligent and he’s come through some adversity to play for Scotland again.”
Townsend, according to a PlanetRugby website report, “stumbled across Steyn in almost comical fashion. He was in Bloemfontein to watch Glasgow play the Cheetahs and got chatting to the bloke handing out the sponsor’s man of the match award. The man turned out to be a friend of Rory’s, who said there was a handy young centre captaining the Griquas Currie Cup team and did Townsend know the lad happened to be Scottish-qualified?”
The process was set in motion. A Sevens contract followed, then he joined the Glasgow Warriors, playing for Dave Rennie, now the Wallaby coach. Then, on March 8, 2020, came his first cap for Scotland. Kyle’s grandfather, Douglas, was an engineer from Bearsden, four miles from Scotstoun, where the Warriors play. He moved to SA to work, taking his three daughters with him. Kyle’s great-uncle’s family still lives in Bearsden and they have reconnected.
Watching Scotland play was as much part of his life as watching the Springboks. “My mum’s family is crazy about Flower of Scotland, so putting the TV on for the anthem was almost more of a thing than watching the actual game. The four girls and my gran were interested in the anthem and my granddad and I were interested in the rugby. They’re not good singers at all,” Kyle told PlanetRugby.
Time will tell if Kyle gets to play against Australia and Rennie this coming Sunday, or against the Boks the Saturday after. He can play at wing and centre, which will stand him in good stead with Townsend.
Rory will, no doubt, watch with divided loyalties should Kyle get picked against SA. I sent him a message on Sunday to say what a wonderful thing it was for him. He replied that it was “unreal”.
Rory has seen many, many things. None of them will have been as special as last Saturday.
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