Munster's Jean Kleyn says he's not one bit surprised his former Munster teammate Jason Jenkins has fit in so well at Leinster.
Jenkins has been a big hit with Leinster fans since joining in the summer, starting the province's first five games before being rested in last week's win at Connacht.
The 6ft 8in South African's single season at Munster was blighted by injury, which saw him limited to just one substitute appearance up to the end of March, by which point his future move to Leinster had already been confirmed.
And while he eventually played 10 times for the province, all but two of those were off the replacement's bench, where he made little impact.
With an uninterrupted pre-season, Jenkins has hit the ground running with Leinster, scoring two tries and adding a huge amount of physicality around the pitch for Leo Cullen's side.
The 26-year-old is likely to come up against his former side tomorrow night, when Leinster host Munster at the Aviva Stadium. And Kleyn says it's no surprise to see how well his fellow South African has fitted in at Leinster.
"I'm not shocked at all," Kleyn says.
"I think he’s a class player, a fantastic player, a fantastic guy. He had a bad run here, he had some niggly injuries. The poor fella couldn’t stay fit for three games in a row and it’s very tough to make an impact when that happens.
"I’m delighted for him, he’s a good friend of mine, so I’m delighted for him that he’s getting a good run now, that he’s had a good pre-season and gotten into the run of things.
"I think he’s a great player and he’s made a big impact because he is a great player. I had no doubt that he would, just as when he signed here, we thought he’d make a big impact here as well. Towards the end of the season, you could see glimpses of what he can bring and I think it was on the back of that, that he ended up going to Leinster."
While many Munster fans will understandably be looking on with envy at the sight of Jenkins in Leinster, blue, they do have a promising crop of young, homegrown second rows in their ranks.
"I'd say it’s probably still one of the ultimate tests in world rugby."
Thomas Ahern was one of the province's form players in the second half of last season, and has looked just as encouraging this season, impressing for Emerging Ireland on their tour of South Africa, as well as in the recent win against the Bulls, while 19-year-old Edwin Edogbo has looked better week-on-week since making his debut against the Dragons.
Kleyn says he's 'very, very excited' by the talent coming through the provinve at lock.
"You look at a guy like Tom [Ahern]; I think he's obviously a winger with a lock’s body, it’s ridiculous. He’s a backline player in a forward’s body which is always something exciting to see.
"From my perspective, it’s great to be playing with a guy like that because I can do all the dirty work and he can do all the beautiful looking things. He gets the praise in the media, I get the praise on Monday morning. I don’t mind that much!
"A fella like Ed [Edogbo], I think I don’t have to say too much about him. He’s 19-years-old and starting against a team like the Bulls, he had some very dominant carries in the first half.
"He’s a big hitter, he’s a big boy and he’s only still young. There is a lot to be seen from him. In terms of depth at lock, we’ve a lot now coming up through the younger ranks, there is a lot to be looking forward to."
With more than 100 Munster appearances down the years, Kleyn is now one of the senior forwards in the group, particularly with the 29-year-old not involved with the Ireland squad.
"I think a lot of it is just shifting the mindset around it. The young blood coming in, they don't have that mental hurdle to overcome because they don’t have this long-standing record of losing matches."
As such, he says he's taking on more responsibility in the group.
"You get guys like Ed and Tom and you know, there is a big onus on the older players and more seasoned players to take them under their wing, show the future generations of Munster players what it’s about, what the ethos is, what it is about really.
"I’d say it has changed in here. It’s my seventh season now, I came in young, probably starting to look a bit on the ragged side now. But I’m still enjoying it."
Kleyn has played Leinster 11 times since arriving in Ireland ahead of the 2016/17 season, with just three wins to show for it, Leo Cullen's side dominating the Interprovincial landscape in recent seasons.
The Aviva Stadium has also been a fruitless venue for Munster, winning just two of their 16 games there since the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, losing 11 of their 12 meetings with Leinster at the national stadium.
"I’d say it’s probably still one of the ultimate tests in world rugby," Kleyn says of facing Leinster at the Aviva.
"Leinster in the Aviva, it’s one of the most exciting fixtures to play and the prospect of coming out and putting a performance in like we did against the Bulls makes you really looking forward to it and look forward to the potential of what we can produce.
And he says a rare win against their neighbours would go some way towards winning back points they let slip earlier in the campaign
"Coming home with the win there will drastically shift what the log [league table] looks like. So for us as a team, this week gone by, this week against Leinster and next week against Ulster are massive weeks for us because they are two of the top teams, and we could knock them down a few points each and bring ourselves up and the log starts looking drastically different, and all of a sudden our season doesn’t look the way it looked literally seven days ago.
"I think there is a longstanding rivalry between us. It is one of the biggest challenges but you know beating them at home is something we all want to do, we’re going to go out and do our best to impose our game and play our best and after that, we’ll see what happens."
In recent years it's been suggested that Munster's squad lack the belief when it comes to their derby with Leinster, the low-point coming in Round 18 of last year's regular season when Johann van Graan's side were beaten by what was essentially a second and third-string Leinster.
But Kleyn says the emergence of younger players in the province this summer has helped flush out any mental blockage about their neighbours to the east.
"I think a lot of it is just shifting the mindset around it. The young blood coming in, they don’t have that mental hurdle to overcome because they don’t have this long-standing record of losing matches.
"So, I think having those guys is actually a massive boost to the team, there’s no restriction, there’s no crutch, to them it’s just another game playing against a good team and I think for us as the older generation as such, we can learn from them in that aspect and just go out and play the best game we can play.
"I’m sure at the end of the day it’s just another game and you can’t approach it as this massive mountain you have to climb because if you do then you’re never going to want to do it. The best way to look at is just: 'we’re focusing on us, we’re building something that’s going to be great.’"
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