ON RUGBY: Redemption is at hand as, once more, it all comes down to Munster if Ireland's rugby season is to be saved, writes Gerry Thornely.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Ireland being victims of their own successes of recent times, the Six Nations didn't quite deliver. Leinster, their Celtic League trophy stored away, have long since begun regrouping for next season, as have the other provinces.

Now defeat for Munster on Saturday against Castres in the European Cup semi-final in Beziers and suddenly the Irish season would effectively have ended with an anti-climactic thud.

Only the AIL finals and the last round of interprovincials would fill the void between now and the impending and imposing summer tour to New Zealand.

Time off, perhaps, for writers whose fingers have been worked to the bone pounding keyboards this past nine months or so, not to mention battle-weary players, but another emotive, Euro final odyssey to the Millennium Stadium on May 25th, most probably against the might of Leicester, would be altogether preferable.

Of course, defeat would also spell the end of an era for Munster, as it would then signal the last match in charge for the coaching duo of Declan Kidney and Niall O'Donovan, as well (in abstentia) of Peter Clohessy, and who knows what involvement Mick Galwey would have.

So, having backboned Ireland's flawed campaign, now it's time for Munster to get selfish. With a season and an era on the line, they have plenty to motivate them.

True, there's a tendency to give every move by the Munster Brains Trust too much credit. But even the timing of Alan Gaffney's impending succession as Munster supremo seemed almost deliberately designed by Munster CEO Garrett Fitzgerald and team manager Jerry Holland to heighten the emotional stakes.

Normally the players don't reveal their inner selves too easily for public consumption but, a little surprisingly, Anthony Foley has come clean. "None of us wants this to be our last game together in the Heineken Cup. Our coach, Declan Kidney, is leaving at the end of the season and Peter Clohessy is hanging up his boots. We have enjoyed the last three years together and it would be nice to give it a big heave and get to the final for Declan and Peter. Each player will have his own motivation to get to the final, but I know we will all want to do it for those two."

In seeking to reinvoke the spirit of two seasons ago and last season, Munster regrouped once again in the Inchydoney Island Hotel outside Clonakilty last week and as anyone who knows the place can testify, if that doesn't recharge your batteries, little else will.

Kidney points out that it ended a 12-week hiatus for the Munster squad. "There were four other occasions in that time we had a brief gathering, but we had to have that game against Leinster. At least the other club sides left in the tournament have had fixtures since the quarter-finals. Even if they have only been able to play half of their top team, they've at least had a run out."

One also suspects they missed each other, and their established routine within the environs of Team Munster. Most of all, you sense, they would have missed the craic. The atmosphere around team Ireland appeared to have become a little earnest and po-faced this past while, whereas Munster couldn't take themselves or life too serious if they tried. You wouldn't want to have a limp around this lot.

For Kidney and O'Donovan their initial forays with Ireland wounded them more than a little. Already they look wearier. Yet no less than the players, good coaches don't become bad coaches overnight. The Irish set-piece problems, with a pack initially featuring seven Munster men, would have frustrated O'Donovan more than anybody.

Judging on Ireland's occasional public sessions, and if the Lions' tour is anything to go by when a numerous and highly specialised coaching team takes charge of a large squad, that frustration would have been compounded by the time constraints. A set 30 minutes or whatever, sandwiched by more meetings, more talking, but less action.

By comparison, with Munster, Kidney and O'Donovan can devote as much time as they see fit to any one area. Touring Europe with Munster this past few seasons, you could hardly step into a car park or hotel garden lawn without intruding upon a line-out session.

For years, with O'Donovan their forwards' coach, the Munster line-out was the most progressive and inventive in the land, reaping a rich harvest of tries from many variations close to the line when it was scarcely trendy. Why, one season Mick Galwey was their leading try scorer for heaven's sake.

Now, back in the Munster fold, both Kidney and O'Sullivan will have the far more hands-on roles to which they had become accustomed. One can only imagine what the time demands have been on the two men, doubling up their Irish and Munster coaching roles, and this can't have permitted them much in the way of R & R.

Yet a change can be as good as a rest, and by all accounts the regrouping has been cathartic for players and coaches alike, all of whom are revelling in a refreshing return to Munster arms.

They have much to be motivated by this week. They wouldn't be human if they didn't relive in their minds' eyes the memories of losing to Northampton at Twickenham two seasons ago. And perhaps London Irish's brilliant and inspiring win over the same opponents at the same venue, Eddie Halvey et al, is a pointer that other Irish ghosts can be laid to rest before the season is out.

Then there's the sense of injustice about the Lille semi-final last season, and doing it for Declan, Niall and the Claw. Men on a mission once more, and as an aside seeking to redeem Ireland's season as well as themselves.