Keatley says Reds won’t be caught on the hop

Rob Penney’s men travelled to Murrayfield in October on the crest of a wave having beaten Leinster the previous weekend but their expected victory over the league’s bottom side at the time was not delivered, Edinburgh scoring an upset 29-23 win.

Munster go into this weekend’s meeting with Pool 6 leaders Perpignan at Thomond Park in a similarly good place, unbeaten since that reversal in the Scottish capital with four league wins in a row, three of them on the road, and with their Heineken Cup campaign back on track thanks to a home win over Gloucester in the last round.

Friday’s win at Newport Gwent Dragons, in which Keatley kicked all his side’s points in an 18-14 victory in his return from injury, maintained Munster’s four-point lead at the top of the RaboDirect Pro12 table but the fly-half says that will count for nothing now the focus has switched to European competition.