It is just over a year since the Ospreys signed Namibian international Lesley Klim, yet supporters at the Liberty have yet to see him take the field.
He has been the subject of considerable chatter, for he arrived with an endorsement from his fellow countryman Jacques Burger.
But confirmed sightings of the 24-year-old three-quarter have since proven few and far between.
What has been going on? MARK ORDERS went in search of answers...
THE SIGNING
The Ospreys announced the capture of Klim in March last year.
A press release heralded the news, describing the 6ft 2in, 14st 13lb player as an exciting prospect who would bring physicality and pace to the backline.
The plan was for him to link the Ospreys at Llandarcy Academy of Sport in the summer.
Klim had played in the Currie Cup for the previous two seasons and finished top try scorer for the Welwitschias.
He had then switched to England and joined Doncaster Knights under Mike Ruddock’s former deputy Clive Griffiths.
For Namibia, he had started his Test career with six tries from eight games.
He would not have cost a king’s ransom, but the Ospreys were entitled to feel he was worth taking a punt on. Jeff Hassler, Dmitri Arhip and Tyler Ardron were similar past signings who would not have strained the finances too much initially. The hope was Klim would deliver.
A LEGEND TWEETS
Klim had a bright summer playing for Namibia.
After the wing or centre scored four tries in his country’s 118-0 win over Tunisia, he was singled out by their most revered rugby personality.
Jacques Burger, the former Saracens flanker blessed with unfathomable depths of courage and an absurdly high pain threshold, felt moved to post on Twitter: “Lesley Klim. Remember that name.”
The assumption is that Burger took into account that Tunisia were 42nd in the world rugby rankings at that time, sandwiched between Sri Lanka and Colombia.
But those who had worked with Klim also felt he had something to offer.
Clive Griffiths said: “Lesley is a young player with a lot of potential.
“His first challenge will be to adapt to the pace of higher-level rugby and iron out the odd crease in his game that every player has, but if he develops fully he could do well for the Ospreys.”
And former Ospreys coach Lyn Jones, who had guided Klim at the Welwitschias, said: “He isn’t the finished article and could work on his defence, but he is a nice runner and there is a fair chance he could do something with the Ospreys.
“You can never be sure.
“But he is a good attacking player.”
WHAT HAS HAPPENED
Injury problems, that’s what.
Klim had been due to play in five World Cup qualifying matches for Namibia last summer but he was injured in the fourth, a 58-28 win over Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.
It meant that he turned up at the Ospreys fit only for the treatment room.
His hamstring issues have continued throughout the campaign.
He did ease his way back onto the field with outings for Neath recently, playing half-games against Newport and RGC 1404.
But he didn’t figure last weekend and a call is due to be made over whether to take him to South Africa for the Ospreys’ two matches there in the coming weeks.
HOW DID HE GO AT NEATH?
He went quite well for the Welsh All Blacks, actually.
They are enduring a desperately difficult season with problems stacking up on such a scale that possibly not even Brian O’Driscoll or Philippe Sella would have made much difference to their fortunes, but Klim did his best in the couple of outings he had for them.
“We haven’t really seen enough him to make a hard-and-fast judgement, but there were flashes of quality,” said Neath secretary Mike Price.
“He had 40 minutes against Newport and 50 or so minutes against RGC and you could see he had something about him. He played in the centre but is probably a wing.
“It was hard not to feel sorry for him, really.
“He’s in Wales to play rugby and he hasn’t been able to do much of that because of his injury.
“But, hopefully, things will improve for him in the coming weeks.”
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Price added: “It’s a weird one. We’ve had the most difficult season in our history, yet we’ve had a New Zealand international in Regan King playing for us and also a Namibian international appearing for us, too.
“Lesley’s a nice guy who works hard and when he plays a few more games we’ll know more about what he’s about.”
WHAT NEXT
Klim will presumably be assessed by the Ospreys medics before a decision is made on whether he can travel to South Africa for the games with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on April 6 and Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth on April 12.
Sometimes fate decrees that a season or two doesn’t work out for a player.
Arhip, for instance, didn’t start a game for the Ospreys in his first two years at Liberty. But after he overcame injury issues he went on to make a huge mark.
Similarly, Hassler endured a series of nightmarish fitness problems.
But, again, he stuck at it to prove a success.
Klim is on a two-year deal, so there is yet time for him to make his mark.
But this term has been the season from hell for him.
Remember his name?
Let’s properly introduce him to Ospreys fans first.
