The Wicklow mountains had it. Flying back from a two-day visit to Saracens on Tuesday evening, as they approached Dublin, Matt Williams and his wife Chrisanne looked out on the so-called garden of Ireland below and reflected on one simple aspect of their month-long dilemma about whether to stay or go. Deep down they didn't want to leave. Gerry Thornley reports.

"If it was about money I wouldn't have taken a month to negotiate," said Williams yesterday, "but I'm not about money, I never have been. I feel very much at home in Ireland. In my last place I was 10 years in New South Wales. I am an Irish citizen, and I wanted to stay in Ireland and I wanted to stay in Leinster. My family are very happy here and it was about getting all of that right."

Now, with Williams having signed on the dotted line, the IRFU's and Leinster's attentions will switch to his highly regarded assistant, Alan Gaffney, as well as those players who are deciding whether to join or stay with the province in light of Williams remaining as coach.

Both the Leinster players and branch officials will have heaved a huge collective sigh of relief over Williams's decision to agree a new, improved three-year contract with the IRFU rather than take up a personally more lucrative offer at Saracens.

However that massive boost for the province, which should have bigger implications for them than any of the record 14 wins in a row Leinster compiled this season, will be somewhat undermined if there is a weakening of the management ticket or playing squad.

Though he enjoys less of a profile than the highly articulate Williams, Gaffney is seen as almost as vital a cog in the Leinster machine, not least by the players and especially the backs, who all swear by him. Like Williams, Gaffney's two-year deal expires this summer. Akin to Williams, he has been approached by two Welsh clubs, one of them, not surprisingly, believed to be Newport, who were beaten three times by Leinster this season. And like Williams until now, relatively speaking, Gaffney is not being paid particularly well and would undoubtedly increase his earnings at Newport, but by the same token he is very happy here and would take less money to stay put.

Furthermore, it is believed that Bob Casey and Trevor Brennan have been delaying over whether to sign a new contract with Leinster or take up offers abroad, in Casey's case at London Irish, and in Brennan's case at Wasps, Orrel, Perpignan or Castres. Also, the pacey and hugely talented UCD and Irish under-21 scrumhalf Brian O'Riordan is weighing up offers of a contract from Leinster, Connacht and Wasps, with the same provinces also being involved in a tug-of-war over O'Riordan's clubmate Des Dillon.

Williams's decision doesn't necessarily mean this quartet will all be Leinster players next season - indeed it would be a surprise if they all were - but it must increase the chances of Leinster keeping them.

One imagines that much of this, the re-signing of Gaffney and indeed the entire management staff - including Willie Anderson and Roly Meates as specialist coaches - was thrashed out this past week or two.

Only one meeting between Williams and the IRFU having been required to resolve his own personal terms, therefore much of the negotiations these past few days would have focused on structures within Leinster, as well as more ambitious promotions and marketing of the province, coupled with development at Donnybrook and long-term, state-of-the-art training facilities.

There were many emotional strings tugging at him. "It's about believing in the group, the loyalty of the players and this particular team that I'm very privileged to be working with is a huge factor in it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime team, and I keep saying that to the players."

Had he walked away from "something special here", Williams admits he would have felt he was letting an awful lot of people down and might never have forgiven himself.

"At the end of this contract I'll have been here six years and I hope that there's a strong legacy that I leave behind. I hope that we do have a new stadium in Donnybrook, by that stage, I hope we have a professional training ground set up for the players and I certainly hope that we have a staff structure in place and generally a brand name and a position in Irish life that I would look back on in 20 years and be proud that I was a part of setting that up.

"What I do hope we have in three years are the structures, the organisation and the set-up that will allow Leinster to be a power in Europe and that is very achievable. Now if we consider Munster's performances the last three years there's absolutely no reason why we can't emulate their fantastic record.

"It's a great breeding ground, with great schools and great youth programmes growing, you've got a big population, you've got another stadium being built, so there's absolutely no reason that if we work hard, and we're smart, and we plan well, that we can't be doing some very good things. It doesn't mean you win it every year, but it means you're there or thereabouts."

As Williams pointed out yesterday, the non-availability of perhaps up to 10 Irish squad members for the autumnal World Cup qualifying campaign makes it unlikely that Leinster will retain their Celtic League trophy, and he also reckoned that the 14-match winning run may never be emulated.

Nevertheless, the IRFU must have had to greatly increase their valuation on provincial coaches, with Williams now believed to be in the same pay bracket as the national coach, and thus have set a precedent.

Hence, the flip side to Williams's well publicised retention, amid much public and private appeals by Leinster players, is that expectations for the province will henceforth be as high as his own.