Johnny Watterson talks to Munster's Mr Versatile, South African Shaun Payne

He carries such notions like consideration, value, quality, Christianity, right and wrong. You ask an official who works with him what he is like. "He's a particularly pleasant man, a great professional," is the reply.

Shaun Payne plays his rugby much like he speaks. A quiet South African murmur but with steely deliberation. With thought. With carefully chosen moves. No histrionic outbursts or intemperate fury here. "The House of Payne?" A miss if ever there was one for a monicker. "Cham-Payne?" Now we're getting somewhere.

At 32-years-old Payne is the rugby player Munster coach Alan Gaffney now looks to first for inventiveness and thrust at the right hand of Rob Henderson at outside centre. When Gaffney is stuck for a wing Payne will step in there too and at full back the South African is never less than comfortable.

The ability to assume different forms around the pitch has provided Munster with a utility player of exception.

Sitting in his new home, not far from Anthony Foley's and a stone's throw from Keith Wood's, Payne is content with his form, with what life has thrown up for him.

Last season he was living in Cork in a house rented from Munster hooker Frankie Sheahan. He is now more at home away from the fuss and clatter near the picture-postcard town of Killaloe, the Shannon sweeping by, his first-team place as firm as it can be on one of the strongest teams in Europe. Life is sweet.

"Yeah, I like it here," he sighs. "It's beautiful, very nice. Not much traffic. Actually stunning, not just beautiful. My contract ends at the end of the season but I absolutely would like to stay on.

"There is no way I want to leave Munster and play anywhere else at this stage of my career. I will finish my career here. I can safely say that unless they want to toss me out. That's up to them."

A little frustrated, Payne has been putting his feet up for the past few weeks after doctor's advice was heeded.

A high thump in the Cardiff match and precaution was wisely followed. No bad thing perhaps given the torrential conditions in which Munster ground out their first pool win over NEC Harlequins last weekend.

Like most back-line players Payne prefers firm ground, not something he is likely to get tomorrow when he steps out at The Gnoll to face Ospreys. It's unlikely to disarm him.

All of the travelling from years with his native Natal Sharks through a four-year stint at Swansea has provided Payne with the appropriate wiring for the European game.

His Irish passport, courtesy of Sligo grandparentage, defuses any issues of work or citizenship and last summer he was called out to the Irish squad's South African tour. It was as though his life cycle had taken a full circle, arriving out to join the tour as an Irish player in Cape Town, the city in which he was born.

"Yeah, it was quite strange that it was South Africa and Cape Town as well. But it was an honour to be asked to join the team. It gives you confidence to know that you have been recognised, although, I didn't get on the field," he says. "But no I don't find it a distraction at all. I do tend not to focus on the Irish team at all. I don't really think about it. Obviously I managed to get out for the last week. It was definitely a big positive for myself but no, it does not dominate my thinking.

"My main objective at the moment is to play for Munster and to do as well as we can in Europe."

Prior to Payne's arrival in Ireland his pace and athleticism had earned him a place on the South African sevens side in 1995. Steve Hansen had been nosing around when he was coach of the Wales national side. But Payne seems destined now to be the player in whom several national coaches have shown a strong interest but for whom little in terms of international caps has materialised.

For Gaffney though, his dependability in the team has been critically important when playing at the margins, which Munster do week in, week out at European level.

Payne instinctively knows to always do the right thing. He has arrived at the outside centre position following a brief tour of the back line that began when New Zealand full back Christian Cullen was injured and Jeremy Staunton failed to appropriate the number 15 shirt. In stepped Payne.

"I'm probably most comfortable on the wing in terms of confidence in my ability," he says. "You know, wing would come first and then it would be a toss up between centre and full back. Then it all depends on the conditions on the day. With a gale blowing you're not going to be too confident at full back.

"There is a massive difference playing 13 or on the wing. The defence is different. The amount of time you are on the ball is different. But I enjoy the variety to be quite honest. Each position is a different challenge."

While he took to Swansea and the city took to him, Payne has nestled in comfortably in Munster. He's a slow burner and with his family has taken time to sink into the rhythm and shift of a new life outside the Welsh city and away from Cork.

He is very much putting down roots with his wife Michelle and their young family and is reluctant to rip them up without strong reasons.

Payne may be the perfect professional rugby player but he also looks for added value from life. Swansea was kind to him but Munster has made a bigger impression.

"The main difference between playing with Munster and in Wales would be the support. That was the biggest thing I noticed. When I was at Swansea for those four years, it wasn't as professionally set up as Munster. In the professionalism and the support base, there would be a massive difference," he says. "But you wouldn't need me to say that the support here is outstanding. "The best in Europe, I'd say without a doubt. That's a massive plus-factor for the team as well.

"Yes, I know it's easy to say that and the supporters like to hear it but it's a well-known fact. That's just it."

Payne will raise his family in a Christian way, a moral way in a God-kissed quarter of Ireland. He said to this newspaper in January that religion had "taught me to be a good person, take others into consideration" and that he would like his son to grow up "a decent human being . . . with a decent circle of friends".

It's a simple philosophy.

With it he radiates intelligence and a formidable inner strength. Enough at least for Gaffney's taste and probably too for the Neath-Swansea examination tomorrow.