DONNACHA RYAN walked down the steps from the changing rooms past the waiting crowd of journalists on his way out of the Millennium Stadium on Saturday night. He looked over as a few beckoned with their microphones.

A few thoughts Donnacha? An insight Donnacha?

"Ah, lads, I'm not qualified for that sort of thing," said the lock cheerily. "There's other lads on the way more qualified than me."

And on that he disappeared out through the flapping doors to the team bus.

Ryan did not get his game on Saturday but in the Munster scheme of things, he knows his place. The Munster players talk of borrowing the jersey until they can no longer fill it. They speak of unity and reliability and minding the position until the next man comes along when they have to hand it over. They say, almost reverentially, they must give back the jersey in the condition in which they received it.

The jersey is always pristine. It's a mindset and it is always clear and functional; a way of passing down quality and expectation through generations of players; a preservation of the thought process that has made Munster what it is.

Hard-bitten Peter Stringer understands, Anthony Foley too. Foley will leave the stage and his mark on it. Stringer will continue to fight for his place alongside Ronan O'Gara. And Ryan will one day feel comfortable to be "qualified".

Two seasons ago Ian Dowling felt callow and peripheral as a young winger punching his way on to the team. He felt as Ryan does now; alongside names on the team sheet that were imposing, there was a sense he was still a support act to the main cast.

"For me personally I have just come along so much," said the left wing two years on and with a second Heineken Cup medal. "I think I gave a lot more there today. I don't like the world passenger. But yes, I was a passenger in 2006 while this year I'm a lot more happy with my game."

Whatever doubt fans may have had before the match about Munster being able to shackle the French runners, the team stepped out on the Cardiff turf with as much self-assurance as they have ever had.

"Everyone was fully confident of the game plan. We all knew what we had to do to get the right result and the team is in such a very positive environment at the minute," added Dowling. "There was very little negativity around us and I think that we had 100 per cent confidence, even at 13-all.

"I mean coming into the stadium on the bus, it was absolutely ridiculous, the scenes on the way in here. It was like we'd already won the trophy. But yes, you do definitely feed off it. I think I saw about 10 Toulouse supporters and I was thinking, 'jeez, they're going to get a land when they come in to this.'"

Tomás O'Leary, one of the many bloodied warriors, arrived with the right side of his face scuffed and swollen. The scrumhalf has also bought into the blinkered approach.

It was the last time Jim Williams and Declan Kidney would lead them to a final. There could have been an unsettling surge of sentiment.

"You can't play on emotions," said O'Leary almost dismissively. "Declan made sure of that. We were all really calm the night before and coming into the ground just seeing so many people and fans around the place. That gets you. We did it for everyone and Deccie as well."

Dowling too could have fallen in love with the idea of one last blast for the coach but Munster has been shaped by Kidney's hand. At the post-match celebrations on the pitch Ronan O'Gara was trying to persuade the coach to stand up on the podium with the team and join the party mood. Kidney was reluctant and sat his ground despite O'Gara's insistence. Paul O'Connell then went over and losing patience snapped, "Declan!" It was only then Kidney looked up at his towering captain, stood and joined the madness.

"We knew this was Declan's last match," said Dowling. "But you know that could have caused a distraction although maybe it was in the back of our heads. The important thing was for us to focus on the game plan and to know our own role in that game plan and to do that. If you didn't do your job you were going to let 14 of the other lads down. I don't think any of us, today, wanted to let anybody down."

The pack set the bar high in that respect from the first nervous kicks. French ebullience choreographed the first phase of the game with overlaps and slick handling.

"From minute one and I think it was (Thierry) Dusautoir - who would have been their main ball carrier - straight away I think it was (Denis) Leamy or Quinny (Alan Quinlan) who buried him," said Dowling, relishing the reaffirmation of the Munster psychology. "That set the tone for the day. Dusautoir went off after 30 (minutes). When our boys are on form, like they were today, there are very few packs that can live with them."