Kleyn hoping to stir up a storm in Murrayfield

MUNSTER will head out of Shannon today hoping to stir up a storm at a near-empty Murrayfield tomorrow night against an Edinburgh side revitalised this season by Richard Cockerill.

And South African lock Jean Kleyn says that to finish this block of games with three wins from four would leave Munster ideally positioned when they come back after the break for the conclusion of the Six Nations.

“Edinburgh have only lost one match at home this season so it’s going to be a big challenge and we’d like to get the win out of it to finish this four-week block on a good note.

“I think we just went back to basics after the Cardiff loss. Among ourselves we said, ‘Look, a little bit less talk and a little bit more effort this week’, and I think the boys performed and we all stepped up to the plate in that aspect against Glasgow.

“We spoke with our actions rather than our words which is the way it should be done,” said the 24-year-old.

Munster, who yesterday confirmed the signing of Sale Sharks’ full-back Mike Haley – the 23-year-old is Irish-qualified – as a replacement for Simon Zebo, won 10-9 away to Edinburgh last season.

This is the only scheduled meeting between them this season but Kleyn has been impressed by Edinburgh so far.

“There’s a little bit of drive going there so I think they have also got a sniff. They are doing quite well in the Challenge Cup and they have a chance of getting into the PRO14 play-offs as well so I think there is a little bit of hope there and hope can be a catalyst for a lot of things.

“But just from my point of experience playing against them, I’ve always said playing Edinburgh away last season was one of the toughest games I’ve played in the northern hemisphere.

“They are a notoriously hard side, I think they have hit their stride this year and it’s something we’ll be hoping to curb them,” he added.

Kleyn is in his second season with Munster and with around a dozen of his team-mates in the Irish squad, he has more than a passing interest in the Six Nations.

“There have been a couple of good games. Ireland obviously are going well so I’m very excited for them.

“I have a lot of good mates playing for them so I’m excited. It’s been an interesting Six Nations so far.

“Ireland have the chance to get the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam and possibly win the competition so very excited for it. I’d say the better that Ireland do the better the provinces do at the end of the day because all the systems do filter down the professionalism the work-rate, it all trickles down to the provinces so hopefully that will trickle down when they come back from winning the Six Nations.”