Gerry Thornley talks to Munster coach Alan Gaffney ahead of the province's Celtic League final against Neath today.

Alan Gaffney admits he'd like to have kept the low-key profile that went with being a long-time back-up man. Not much chance of that, though, once he assumed the reins at Munster, of all places. As they showed a fortnight ago in that epic piece of escapology at the expense of Gloucester, Munster do tend to hog things.

Not that he's regretted it, even for a second. Reflecting on that awesome day two weeks ago, he gets a tingle up his spine like the rest of us. He probably wished he never said "never die wondering", so oft-quoted is it now, but that one day justified his decision to take up Munster's offer.

The crowds have long since drifted away and emotions have calmed, but Gaffney stands by his verdict that that was the best rugby day he's ever known.

"Without a shadow of a doubt. Nothing even gets near it. Not even close, for me personally. It was an enormous mountain, and these guys stood up and were counted when it mattered.

"A lot of people might have thought they were getting instructions from the sidelines, but they were decisions taken on the field by a lot of senior people and even the junior people. When you've got people like Jimmy (Williams) and Axel (Foley) they take a lot of the heartache out of it. You've got to have faith in them."

Now they have to scale another mountain, and one suspects the hardest part was descending from the last one. Just as well the Celtic League final didn't come a week later. They'd have had to puncture themselves just to stop floating on the high of that epic day, but it wouldn't have been easy, even for them.

"The week off was a great thing as far as we were concerned. We needed that week off. Apart from the "high" we had a couple of guys nursing a couple of bumps and bruises."

Besides, deep down, they cannot afford to let this one slip.

"These guys have been around a long while. They value their own performances, they know they owe it to themselves mainly, but they also owe it to who's been before them and who's going to come after them, and also to the supporters. But mainly they owe it to themselves. They want to go out and perform.

"We had a pretty low-key few days after the Gloucester game, the boys just basically had a good time on the Tuesday training session - which I think was necessary. But ever since the Thursday our minds have been focused on what we have to do."

There are, Gaffney concedes, benefits to be drawn from three defeats in finals before.

"One, you don't deserve anything in sport. You've got to make it happen. You don't get things because you've been there before. But alternatively, the other side to that is that if anybody deserves something for how they've performed over the last four seasons, then it's probably this group of boys. It would be a just reward, I think."

Laid-back to the point of almost being horizontal, Gaffney gives the impression he has slipped effortlessly into his new role and the Munster psyche, and the players confirm that. Not from the ranting and raving, cup-throwing school of coaches, Gaffney is a highly technical coach who lays great store by video analysis and improving players individually with one-on-one coaching.

"George Murray, our video analyst, gets an awful doing from him," admits Anthony Foley good-naturedly. "It got to the stage at our Christmas party where we tried to have George as Gaff's butler for the night. I don't think Gaff could survive without him.

"After every game we fill in forms about our performances and he gives us feedback on that," adds Foley. "There's an awful lot of video sessions; what you've done right and what you've done wrong. It's a progression and something we wouldn't have dreamt about years ago but players are looking to improve themselves all the time."

What made Gaffney instantly popular with his new players, aside from the glowing recommendations of their Leinster counterparts, is that he's such a thoroughly likeable and decent fellow.

"I don't think anybody has any major dislike about the man," says Foley. "He's very straight with you. There's nothing you can ask about the man other than he's straight and honest with you, and Alan is all of that."

Gaffney himself comes across as a wide-eyed onlooker and a hands-off coach who just happens to be here.

"It's been better than I expected. I've said that it's been a humbling experience even to be offered the job, and to follow men like Declan (Kidney) and Niallo (O'Donovan). It's just been fantastic the way people have been so helpful," he says, regularly peppering his reflections thus far by highlighting the help of Jerry Holland, Brian Hickey and Garret Fitzgerald, and even mentioning Noel "Noisy" Murphy and "Tommy" Kiernan.

"Even if I tried to name them all I'd leave 10 guys out. The way they treat you down here is something special."

As for "the boys", well, don't get him started. They're everything he was warned they would be by their Leinster counterparts. Taking on such a good side has been a challenge, he admits, but "I seem to have fitted in so far," repeating the word "seem" before joking: "Maybe they think I'm a total arsehole, I don't know."

He's been particularly struck by the Munster players' ability to poke fun and share a laugh, and then to switch to being serious when needed. He says he's never experienced anything quite like that either, nor, especially, the umbilical cord that exists between supporters and players.

Without it, Munster wouldn't have pulled through by 27 points against Gloucester. Had they not, Gaffney admits there would have been an air of failure hanging over them this week, and he would have had to ask questions of himself as well as his team.

"We are a team, we win together, we lose together and we have fun together."

Instead, their season endures for the fourth year running into the knockout stages.

"That's what gives me so much joy. Apart from interpro friendlies the season could have been over after this final. That would have been a major disappointment to me as a new guy, so imagine what it would have been to the players who have been party to some of these great achievements over these last few years."

The challenge now is to keep on improving. But it's one he's relishing even more than he thought he would.

"Don't get me wrong, mate, I've got a lot of friends still in Leinster, but this has been the best decision I've ever made in rugby."