It's funny to think how Munster were faring at the half-way point in the interprovincials last season. A second successive defeat, by 29 points to 12 away to Ulster, had left them bottom of the pile, and prompted a public inquest as to what was wrong. But it was nothing compared to the private inquest.

Hence, when choosing a turning point in the evolution of Munster to today's dizzy heights - successive interprovincial titles, unbeaten all season, top of their Heineken Cup pool and looking forward to the TV cameras and a full house today - Declan Kidney surprisingly opts for that Ravenhill nadir.

"I'd go back to that Ulster game. We turned things around after that, but we let ourselves down in all sorts of ways that night. Since then things improved. In the next game, against Connacht, we were five points down in three minutes, and had dug a good deep hole for ourselves. But they fought back, eight minutes later we were 7-5 up and since then really we never looked back."

So had there been much navel contemplation in the week following Ravenhill. "Not much," he says, laughing, and clearly reluctant to divulge much more. "Let's just say we haven't looked back since, but you can't have complete pillow talk."

Since then, in a phenomenal run of form, Munster have lost only two of their last 20 matches, away to Perpignan and Colomiers, and the latter was handsomely redressed last week in France.

Ulster's European Cup victory last season has set a demanding benchmark. Yet no matter what ultimately happens, beating Colomiers at home today would still constitute another notable success story. In any season, he points out, a double over a French team would be an achievement in itself.

"One of the things I'm glad I did this year was get one of those special trains up and down to Dublin for one of the international matches. It gave me a feel for what the Irish rugby supporters are about, which might sound like a small fella from Cork making a grandiose statement."

"But I think it reinforced what Irish rugby supporters are looking for in their teams. They want them to be honest and be competitive. Ulster did that last year and if Ulster hadn't won the European Cup I still think most of their supporters would have been happy with the way they played. They gave everything that their supporters wanted, and then it became a bit of an avalanche when they actually reached the final and won it."

"And that's what we're trying to do. I don't expect us to win. I don't expect us to lose either. But once we give it our best shot, then it will take a good team to beat us, and if we are beaten we have at least made sure that it is a very good team that beats us."

Another key component, Kidney stresses, in this Munster team's evolution has been consistency in selection over the last three seasons. Thus, aside from the obvious experience of Mick Galwey, John Langford, Keith Wood, Peter Clohessy and company, Kidney points out that the likes of Ronan O'Gara and John Hayes are now in their third European campaigns. "Experience, you can't buy that."

It also seems as if Kidney, Niall O'Donovan and Brian O'Brien, have invested more trust in the players' ability than is the Irish norm. The willingness to take risks, coupled with increased confidence, has seen Munster explore the running game, stay on their feet and off-load in the tackle, to score eight cracking tries in the away wins over Saracens and Colomiers.

"As a nation we can be very harsh on ourselves," Kidney responds "and we're inclined to find more faults with backs than forwards. If a forward makes a mistake, it's just taken as a mistake, whereas if a back makes a mistake then it's `Joe Bloggs made a complete and utter horlicks of it', and that puts an individual under pressure. But I do believe there are more good backs in the country, and our fellas are willing to have a go, and willing to take risks."

In all of this, Kidney conveys the impression of standing back and letting the players off their leash. "I don't believe players from abroad work any harder than Irish players. When an Irish team is playing really well, they'll match their opponents ruck for ruck. In fact, they might hit five rucks for every four their opposite number hits. What we need to do is become a little bit cuter."

There's a fine line as to how to trust the players, but Kidney maintains that the players must first be treated as people, and then as players. If that's reciprocated, all the better. One of the anomalies of coaching is the need to build up strength in depth, and then find you can only pick 15 of them on a given day. "The day you stop feeling the hurt and pain is the time to pull out of coaching."

It helps to have the wise counsels of Brian O'Brien and Niall O'Donovan, proven Shannon winners, alongside him. "They're smashing," he says, after a pause. "No matter what words I use I couldn't convey their importance. They're two rugby people, we've a lot of common ground, although we don't always agree which is good and healthy, but they treat the players as people first." There are plenty of natural born leaders within the squad. Mick Galwey, whose contribution "couldn't be overstated", most obviously. For example, Peter Clohessy hasn't been on a losing side this season. "He's a winner," explains Kidney, so last week in Colomiers Clohessy was asked into the dressing-room and spoke at half-time. "Our role can be a little bit overstated," he adds, "though we can mess them (the players) up."

But coaches must do some good? "The three things that I try do as a coach are to enjoy myself, to help players I'm working with to improve and to win. But not necessarily in that order." In case you didn't catch that, he stresses: "Not in that order."