Gerry Thornley talks to Peter Clohessy as he prepares for Saturday's European Cup final against Leicester - his last competitive game of rugby.

So this is it, the final curtain. Peter Clohessy's retirement has seemed like the longest of goodbyes, more akin to an ol' crooner on a farewell tour, with one final concert after another. Yet somehow it also seems most fitting that his last game should be in Munster's red, even more than Ireland's green, and especially in tandem with his long-time sidekick Mick Galwey.

The only pity is that Keith Wood isn't packing down with him as well. But that aside, this is the most appropriate of departures, for no one embodies the spirit of Munster rugby more than Clohessy, in both the amateur era and the professional era.

He enjoyed both, having a preference for the full-time game if only because it coincided with more wins. However, it has taken its toll as well, and when full-time comes on Saturday he will bow out with scarcely a sideways glance.

He's rarely looked forward to one match so much, yet never looked forward so much to a summer of doing nothing either. Not being the type to get too sentimental about the game, you believe him when he says he hasn't given much thought to this being his final game. "To be honest I haven't thought of it at all. I think it'll only hit me afterwards, or when I'm sitting on a beach over the summer."

As if in a hurry to bring on retirement, the Clohessys are off to Majorca on Tuesday, and that's almost the way it is. "I'm going to take the whole summer off before I decide whether to have any involvement in the game, as a scrum coach or whatever. I suppose I'd like to stay involved in some way, but I definitely won't play again, even at club level. This is it."

No regrets either. "No, I don't think so. I've been at it so long now. To be honest I'm looking forward to it (retirement). I've had enough of it. I'm sure Anna's looking forward to me retiring as well. It's particularly hard on the kids, I've been away so much. And that's the way the game is since it's gone full-time. Even on your days off you're usually travelling. You're constantly on the go."

Today is his one last travelling day, and the prize at stake couldn't be greater. It would eclipse any other win in a Munster jersey, and rival the wins over England and France at international level. "It would be perfect, and hopefully we'll learn from two years ago and do it.

"Two years ago we were a bit naive," he adds revealingly. "We got a little caught up in all the hype around the match. I think there's a greater sense of calm and focus within the squad this time," he says, suddenly coming over as quite the profound elder statesman.

"I think, to a degree, we thought we had won before we went out on the day, at the back of our heads, so now we realise how hard it is to win a final and that if we don't play to our best we won't win. It's as simple as that."

Great Munster days, he's had a few, and Clohessy singles out the win over then world champions Australia by 22-19 in that infamous battle of Musgrave Park in 1992, when Galwey was sent off along with Garrick Morgan and Clohessy was singled out by Bob Dwyer afterwards.

"I think Dwyer's comments were a bit out of line but we've patched things up since," says Clohessy. What particularly satisfied him about that day was the manner he, Terry Kingston and Paul McCarthy stood up to the Aussie front-row and "fought fire with fire" in the scrums, even to the point of gaining a penalty try.

"I can still see Kingston running back to the halfway with his arm up in salute." The semi-final in Toulouse two years ago over Bordeaux just pips this season's win over Castres in Beziers, despite the personal baggage he carried into the game, "because nobody expected us to win that match whereas against Castres we were given more of a chance."

He agrees that the Munster dressing-room differs from its Irish counterpart "because they're all mad," adding: "Everybody gets on so well with each other and that matters in a match. If you're in trouble with 10 minutes to and you look around and all you see are your buddies, it makes you try that bit harder."

One of the abiding memories of Clohessy's career is the amount of times you see him shoulder to shoulder with Galwey as the play breaks up, and they look accusingly or questioningly at opponents or referees. Not only has he never shied away from the front line, he usually goes looking for it.

Galwey admits he'll miss his teammate, friend and kindred spirit. "Claw's first cap for Munster was back in 1987 up in Belfast. I was on the bench the same day and we've been together since. We've had a lot of great days, we've had a lot of bad days but at the same time looking back on it he'd be the first man on my team any time. And I don't say that lightly."

Why does he say it then? "Because he's always with you, he'll never let you down. People might say that Claw wasn't the greatest professional of all time, in light of the way he trains or the way he prepares, but he'll always give you 120 per cent on the pitch and that's where it counts. He mightn't be the strongest man in the gym, he mightn't be the fastest man on the track but where it counts is on the pitch and that's where Peter comes up trumps.

"He's a man you'd want to have with you through thick and thin, and we'll miss him. I'll miss him. The team will miss him, although it's great to have him there for one last occasion." The perfect send-off will see hardly a dry eye in the place.