Why Kyle Steyn has fallen in love with Glasgow Warriors and the city
The 27-year-old winger - whose new “multi-year” deal with the Scotstoun side was announced yesterday - was born and bred in South Africa. Despite the fact his mother is from Glasgow, he admitted that the robustness of everyday interactions took a bit of getting used to when he first signed for the Warriors in 2019.
“Everybody in Glasgow is down to earth,” Steyn said yesterday after his new contract, believed to be for three years, was announced. “I love the sense of humour. Nobody takes themselves too seriously. You can meet anyone in a coffee shop and chat to them - they’ll rip the piss out of you and vice versa pretty early on. There’s no shots held back.
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Hide Ad“That was one thing that probably took the longest to get used to was how relentless it is over here. Back home somebody would have taken the mickey out of you then forgotten about it two days later, but here a week, two weeks later they’re still giving you the same old joke.
“It’s just absolutely relentless. If you can’t give it back... It’s a sink-or-swim kind of situation. You’ve just got to take it for what it is and dish it right back and it just becomes good fun.”
Having long since adjusted to the rough and tumble of coffee-shop life in the city,
Steyn did not hesitate in agreeing to prolong his stay at Scotstoun. “It was an easy decision,” he added. “I’ve loved my time at the club so far. Everyone at Warriors and in the Glasgow community has been really welcoming to me and Ally, my fiancee.
“Just mentally it’s nice not to have to worry about this for a couple of years now, searching for a club. The next time I do it I’ll be an old bastard, so it could be a bit trickier then.
“But yeah, it is good. We’re just so happy, my fiancee and I, in Glasgow, and it’s just nice to be able to nail down and just crack on and really get stuck in.”