European Cup: With exaggerated slowness, Alan Gaffney gingerly eases himself onto a windowsill overlooking the track at Limerick University. Munster have disbanded after another training session, it is damp outside although it is only lunchtime, and Thomond fever is in the air. Just another winter's day in this part of the world.

"God, mate, I'll sit anywhere, I'll sit anywhere," the silver-haired Munster coach says with good humour. After a tough and fruitless weekend down in France, there is a sense that Gaffney, although still probably acclimatising to the sheer dampness of the Irish winter, is glad to be back on the west coast. Munster's defeat in Castres leaves them with one of those make-or-break situations for which they are celebrated: a-win-at-all costs Saturday in front of a packed and partisan Limerick crowd.

As if that isn't enough, the French bring with them Paul Volley, the man who whispered all kinds of un-sweet nothings into Ronan O'Gara's ear last Friday night. Whatever sort of threats he did or did not make after the game are academic now. What is certain is that Volley will probably be given the same sort or reception in Thomond as he would get if he strolled up Sandy Row wearing a Celtic shirt.

Gaffney, though, reckons Volley's presence on the team plane is a key factor for the visitors and, on a general evaluation of their strengths, he pinpointed the combustible number eight.

"One of the great pluses I believe they have is that they have Volley. The majority of French sides don't travel, but I think Castres will have a different attitude with a guy like Volley. And they will come here full of confidence."

His contretemps with the Irish outhalf was - as O'Gara has maintained - blown out of proportion and it was not something Gaffney felt important enough to merit a team conversation.

"Not an issue. It hasn't been brought up. Last year, a lot was written about the great issue between Duncan McRae and Ronan. But it proved to be as un-newsworthy as I thought it would have that time. And I think the issue with this guy is the same. He is a volatile player but a very good player and I have a lot of time for him. He plays it on the edge all the time and he does put pressure on you and that's fine.

"We are not suggesting that he does anything illegal. He trained very well at Wasps and has carried it on to Castres and I commend him, I think he is a really good player."

The rumpus over Volley overshadowed what was an aggravating night of lost opportunities for Munster. Reintegrating after the trilogy of autumn internationals was bound to take some sort of toll on the province, and so it transpired, with Munster spending much of the game "on the back foot".

There was nothing glaringly wrong; as Gaffney pointed out, the scrum stood up fairly well through 80 exacting minutes of Castres pressure, they won most of their lineouts and missed only 12 tackles.

But nothing of consequence happened from Munster's lineout, they failed to score a try and the memory of Christian Cullen's missed tackle seemed to frame the story of the night.

"Obviously, we erred when we allowed the try. And we can bring that back to missed tackles. But it all started way up the pitch - even to the restart where the chase was bad. We didn't chase across the pitch as we should have done and our spacing was bad. Okay, we can go to Cully's tackle, one he should have made, but the error started way earlier."

Munster train again today and Gaffney intends to use the 27-strong squad to try to replicate the moves they believe Castres will put on them in Thomond Park. Overall, though, he believes the answer to this game lies in Munster's own approach.

"If we play to our potential, we will win the game," he states.

That Anthony Foley has played more European Cup games (63) than any other player in the history of the competition, and that John Kelly and John Hayes were yesterday honoured with ERC Elite Awards for making their 50th appearances, illustrates the depth of experience Munster can call upon.

And although they have been untouchable in Thomond, Gaffney is not ruling out mixing it up a little for Saturday. Denis Leamy returns to the squad after recovering from an ear injury, and other names, including the sharp, attacking back Paul Devlin, were bounced around during yesterday's conference.

"Well, Paul Devlin, he is in serious consideration for this game because we need, as I said, a cutting edge and that is the one thing he has. Paul Devlin has the ability to beat men. We have to work out in our minds whether he has had sufficient time in rugby at this point to understand the nuances connected with this time. But as far as attack is concerned, he is looking more comfortable every time he trains."