Sadness Behind Klim's Big Journey

Alex Bywater talks to Namibia’s Lesley Klim about the problems he faced in his early life.

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HIT BY A series of family tragedies and surrounded by the temptations of drugs and alcohol while growing up in the southern Namibian city of Keetmanshoop, Lesley Klim’s journey to rugby’s biggest stage could have ended up a very different story. It is to his huge credit that it did not.

The 24-year-old winger is representing his country at the World Cup in Japan and in an age where most professional players progress through pampered academy set-ups, Klim has had to do things the hard way. It included coping with the death of his mother Susana on his 16th birthday.

It is why he is relishing every moment at the World Cup.

“I come from the southern part of Namibia. Keetmanshoop is the biggest town in that area, but if I compare it to Wales it’s quite small,” said Klim, an Ospreys player who is yet to turn out for the Welsh region after a serious of troublesome hamstring injuries.

“I grew up and went to school there, but there isn’t much happening and around me there were a lot of kids getting into the wrong way of life with drugs and alcohol.