News: Christmas cheer has so often been delivered by Munster. This year is no exception as Declan Kidney's side look towards their match against Connacht on December 27th with the long-term view of facing Clermont Auvergne in January buried somewhere under the surface.

That they top their Heineken European Cup group ahead of Wasps, courtesy of a bonus point, suggests they are in good fettle. But Kidney will say that such comforting thoughts, in the context of the European Cup, are heresy. In the citadel that is the Munster mindset, loose talk costs games.

"If we get turned over by Connacht and Ulster, it makes that Clermont match even harder," says Kidney. "We have to think like that. The Magners League has been much denigrated but we don't take it like that. Each match is huge in its own right. It's no different on the players' bodies in the dressingroom afterwards."

Kidney's laid-back personality belies the feet paddling vigorously under the surface, and his understated delivery fits the Munster glove perfectly.

Connacht he sees as the immediate challenge, and as he looks at the match through the prism of Michael Bradley, the dangers are obvious.

"Connacht want to qualify for Europe," says Kidney. "There is no secret about that. It would be the first time in their professional history if they did and I think it is very clear what they want. That would be a huge goal for them. But we can't buy into that."

For now Kidney is happy with the team's mid-term report. The centre partnerships are working, as are the pack even without the injured Paul O'Connell, who has no time frame for recovery from his back injury (and Kidney refuses to dwell on the when or the how of his international secondrow returning).

Donncha O'Callaghan, Mick O'Driscoll and Donnacha Ryan are doing just fine. But again, in the back of his mind the coach knows that O'Connell and Doug Howlett, the All Blacks winger, have a role to play in this campaign. That's an easy-enough thought to accommodate.

"We'd be delighted to have Paul back but I am not overly fussed about it," says Kidney. "The lads there are doing fine. When Paul comes back, he will have to find his feet in our set-up. He will have to work hard coming in off the street. It would be a big mistake to be waiting for him to come back and we would never do that.

"Paul's injury is really a day-to-day thing. He's done more work than last week but it would be wrong to put time on it. He has not taken part in a rugby session yet."

Kidney will tell you the team that lined out while the World Cup was unravelling for Ireland notched up crucial points in their Magners League campaign, when few were looking. There is good reason why his deeply held respect for certain big-name players is often tempered in public. He is the CEO of a team of 30 and only half of them will be perfectly happy week to week.

"A lot of good work was done when the World Cup lads weren't playing," he says.

There is little fear Munster will offer a soft, Christmas-pudding shoulder to either Connacht or Ulster.

Managing the Magners League as well as keeping an eye on Wasps, who have several matches, and Clermont, who are also playing, requires a tight leash.

Wasps could possibly top the group with 23 points and get a home quarter-final. Clermont could finish on 20 points. "It is how we prepare ourselves," says Kidney about the next couple of weeks. "It is going to be a huge, huge challenge."

Munster went into the first European Cup match against Llanelli "on a downer" having just lost to Leinster. They don't want to do that against Clermont, who came to Ireland with an entirely different team from what had lined out the previous week in France. The French side will not have such a cavalier selection policy in front of a home crowd. But first up it's Connacht and Ulster.

"If you close the deal it is much easier to go to work the next day," says Kidney obliquely.

Bradley, and possibly Matt Williams, will know exactly what he is talking about.

Connacht will be without top scorer Tim Donnelly for their Magners League meeting with Munster next Thursday.

The Australian suffered a shoulder injury in the recent European Challenge Cup loss away to Newcastle Falcons.