The American Kiwi: How rugby reconnected Shilo Klein with his roots

America, abroad, and back again. That’s been USA Eagle Shilo Klein’s personal and professional journey.

Born in Sacramento to two American parents, Klein relocated to New Zealand when he was just two years old because of a work opportunity his father received. Despite being an American citizen by birth, New Zealand was all Klein knew until he returned to the U.S. in 2023, aged 23.

Like most kids in New Zealand, Klein grew up around rugby. “I don’t remember not having a rugby ball or being down at the local rugby club,” he told RugbyPass ahead of the Eagles’ scrappy 28-26 World Rugby Nations Cup Round 4 victory against Hong Kong China. “Rugby was a massive part of my life socially, and then as I got on in age a bit, professionally.”

Growing up around New Zealand’s national sport, Klein quickly developed excellent ball skills and was identified in high school as a player who could make it to the next level. He says his goal was always to represent the highly competitive Canterbury provincial team and eventually play for the Crusaders in Super Rugby.

Canterbury is one of New Zealand’s two rugby powerhouses, the other being Auckland. It has produced World Cup-winning coaches Sir Steve Hansen and Sir Wayne Smith and served as a breeding ground for international greats like Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Justin Marshall, and Andrew Mehrtens, among others.

Klein achieved his goals and more. The hooker represented the Red and Blacks between 2019 and 2022, played one season with the Crusaders, and made the “Baby Blacks,” New Zealand’s prestigious U20 side.

Along the way, Klein rubbed shoulders with Luke Romano, Luke Whitelock, and Joe Moody. Following their leadership, he learned what it meant to be “a good Canterbury man” — which largely focused on putting in the hard yards, showing care for the job and taking pride in the jersey and community you are representing. These are values which Klein still carries with him to this day.

Klein also got the chance to play alongside current All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor. “As a young hooker, it was awesome to have someone like him to look up to,” Klein said. “It gave me something to aim up at.”

With Klein’s contract with New Zealand Rugby ending after the 2022 season, the possibility of a new future arose. “At the end of 2022, USA Rugby reached out and asked me what my plans were,” Klein told RugbyPass. “The San Diego Legion reached out, and Gary Gold was coaching the Eagles at the time. I had a conversation with my agent and laid out a bit of a pathway around if I was to change my allegiance over to the U.S., what the pathway was going to look like in MLR and potentially going to the World Cup with America. I suppose that was the thing that started this next chapter of my playing journey.”

In Klein’s first season in the U.S., the Legion topped the Western Conference with a league-high 74 points and made it to the MLR Championship, but lost the shield to the New England Free Jacks in a 25-24 nail-biter.

Over the subsequent two seasons, Klein got more and more playing time, but results dipped, with the Legion missing the playoffs altogether in 2025. While the focus has undoubtedly been on developing his rugby game, Klein’s move to MLR has also allowed him to rediscover his birth nation.

“Over these last couple of years, it’s been great, because I’ve learned more about America, where I’m from, and what it means to represent this country,” said Klein. “It’s one of the best decisions I ever made.”

Klein has enjoyed seeing the different faces of America as he’s traveled the country playing rugby. “The great thing about America is that it’s just a melting pot of different cultures and people from all over the world,” he said. “Coming from such a small place like New Zealand, the exposure you get to diversity in America, the different ways of viewing the world, the approach to professional sports, the patriotism, and how proud people are to be American, that’s been incredibly insightful for me, and helped my understanding of what it means to represent such a big nation.”

From a rugby perspective, Klein has evolved as a player, honing his skills and physicality before breaking into the Eagles in November 2024. While it’s clear the United States is not the rugby nation New Zealand is, Klein sees that as a matter of resource allocation rather than a mismatch in athletic talent.

“MLR is still in its youth,” Klein admitted. “There’s quite a big difference from the business and marketing standpoint. But as far as the level of rugby I’ve seen in the couple of years I’ve played in the States, the level’s on the up, which is exactly what we want. The athletes that are getting produced are definitely up to that level, and I think the challenge for us is, ‘How do we get our skill sets, and how do we tactically continue to enhance our game and become better in those spaces?’”

To further develop his own skill set, at the end of the 2025 season, Klein once again looked for pastures new. He swapped the California coast for the Italian countryside, joining Zebre Parma for one season.

Playing in Italy exposed Klein to the different tactical approaches he will encounter at next year’s Rugby World Cup. He’s been pitted against the physicality of South Africa, the flair of other Italian sides, and the clockwork attacking play of the Irish sides.

“I think that any opportunity to play in Europe and test yourself in another high-quality competition…I just wanted to test myself and see how I would go at that level,” Klein said when asked about choosing to play in Italy.

While Klein will return to the Legion for the 2027 MLR season, he looks back fondly on his time in Italy, both as a player and person. “As a rugby player, you always want to have the mindset of continuing to develop and get better, no matter how old you are. And Italy gave me that, and on top of that, it was just a great place to live. The culture and people there are amazing.”

As he prepares to head back to the States, the hooker is clear on what differentiates the elite players from the rest: “pride in [their] individual skill sets”, and he is keen to help instill that in his national and club teammates.

“Props having the same ability as outside backs to offload the ball and their emphasis on the individual skill set was just massive. And it’s something we are taking steps to improve in the MLR and also within the Eagles…Rugby for them is an art, not a science, and I think when appropriate, bringing a bit of that into our identity as Eagles and American players would be awesome.”