Gerry Thornleyon the man who has succeeded the legendary Declan Kidney as coach of mighty Munster. The Australian is fairly advancing the province's cause and clearly loving the role and the responsibility

IF TAKING over the reins at Munster was possibly the best job in Europe it was also perhaps the worst. One of the great maxims of the old Liverpool boot-room philosophy - whenever the coaches felt their players were becoming a little too giddy - was the reminder, "You've won nothing yet."

Despite Munster maintaining one of only three unbeaten starts to the season in the three major European leagues with the sweetest of all domestic victories at the RDS last Sunday, it is particularly true of Tony McGahan's Munster.

As defensive coach for the previous two-and-a-half years, McGahan had already had a profound influence in Munster's two Heineken Cup victories was already profound and he has made a strikingly assured start to his tenure as head coach.

Yet, such have been Munster's achievements over the last decade in a sense his true test only starts now and anything less than qualification for an 11th European Cup quarter-final will probably be deemed a failure.

He knows it, but it doesn't seem to remotely faze him.

"Munster and the Heineken Cup are synonymous," he says. "It's been built over a long period of time. It's been built with a lot of hard work, a lot of tears, a lot of laughs at the same time, and success at the back end of this period. Really we need to continue the work that's been ploughed in over a number of years and this year we have an excellent group of core senior players who are extremely keen to do well."

Eras, especially golden ones, cannot last uninterrupted forever. Look at tennis and golf with Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. In team sports, this is even truer, and you'd have to wonder if Munster can maintain a strike rate of four finals in nine years, or more to the point, two wins in three years. Following a legend like Declan Kidney will be a little like following Arsène Wenger or Alex Ferguson.

Yet McGahan's clearly loving it, and when you ask him what he enjoys most about the job he says it's the responsibility. "You feel the pressure every week, to be honest, and I think the biggest fear is the fear of failure.

"We're confident in the squad that we have; we're confident in the work that we're doing and in the direction that we're going. So we can only control the things that we can and we feel those things are within our control, that we're moving along where we need to be going."

No less than the other man who tried to replace Kidney, Alan Gaffney, McGahan is not seeking to reinvent the wheel.

But the shift in style has been significant, if subtle.

His influence had already been pronounced anyway, Munster embracing a more aggressive rush defence over the last couple of years, while the surprise promotions of Tomás O'Leary and Denis Hurley for last season's knock-out stages were at least partly attributable to McGahan.

And if anything their defensive line speed has increased this season, with Munster's outside-in, umbrella-type rush defence last week effectively cutting off all supply lines to Brian O'Driscoll and the outside backs. Leinster were befuddled.

Mick O'Driscoll has spoken about the introduction of ball work to pre-season training earlier than at any stage he has known in a decade as a professional and it's notable how much more Munster's forwards are getting hands on the ball; even John Hayes, whose enduring excellence is becoming nothing short of phenomenal.

Their offloading game had already evolved last season, but the players' work-rate off the ball has gone up another notch or two and now they are playing with even more width.

As they showed in the second-half recovery against Cardiff, Munster can still go back to a more direct style and Ronan O'Gara can, as ever, also provide field position when required.

But O'Gara is looking to pass more than ever as Munster have looked to transfix opposition defences, with Lifeimi Mafi's footwork and passing bringing Keith Earls into space and fully exploiting the strike running of Doug Howlett, who is set to become as much of a legend with Munster as he was with the All Blacks, such has been his virtuoso form.

"Look, we've put a lot of work into our attack this year, we've put a lot of work into our catch-pass skills, and we have some very good players. So we feel we're playing to our strengths, and we'll play to that. But we certainly still hold the ability to play cup rugby when we need to, or when we need to close down games or up the tempo. Hopefully, this year we'll have the ability to do both."

The theory went that Munster's top seeding would ensure a more favourable draw, but the rankings are based solely on Heineken Cup achievements, and are therefore not especially representative of true European standing.

Relative underachievers or recently emerging forces can have a misleadingly low ranking, and from the third tier of seeds no team was to be avoided more than Clermont Auvergne (with the Ospreys close behind).

And Clermont also have

history with Munster, having come closer than anyone to knocking out the eventual champions last season.

Not will Vern Cotter be inclined, or be allowed, to send over a virtual second-string team to Thomond Park when the sides go toe to toe on successive weekends in December.

So it was that Munster drew last season's form team in France - Clermont having finished at the top of the French Top 14 Championship's regular 26-game season before losing the final to Toulouse.

There were easier fourth seeds than the tournament's only debutants, Montauban, while Sale led the way in the Guinness Premiership in September when not conceding a single try.

"Without a doubt, it's an extremely difficult group. Montauban have put their hands up in the last two years in a very difficult, tough French league.

"We've got Clermont, who I think are an absolutely super side who can hurt you all around the pitch, and we've got Sale, who have been leading the English league and have been a quality side for a few years with a real quality group of players."

Nor, for once, has the draw set things up for an Hiberno-English climax on the last weekend. Typically, of course, the goodwill of the travelling red army has been abused once more, and they have been obliged to play their opening two away matches - at Sale in round two and Clermont in round three - on Sundays.

Furthermore, a little disconcertingly, television has decreed that Munster kick the tournament off next Friday against Montauban, while in round four they host Clermont at 3.30pm. One of the great thrills of the Heineken Cup - and one of its standard features - was Munster's 5.30pm slot on Saturday evenings.

"That Saturday 5.30pm kick-off was traditionally a great aspect of rugby on anyone's calendar, so moving to a Friday night will be very different but that's what the TV draw has given us.

"We still expect and will no doubt get a great support base from the fans. While 8pm on a Friday night is not an ideal start for everyone, I think being in a new stadium, being in a new season, being defending champions - all those ingredients will still give a great spark."

Ever the drama kings, Munster appear to have created an in-built radar with which to work out the bare minimum of what is required. But in classic Munster mode, McGahan and his brains trust are taking the pool stages in three blocks of two, Montauban at home followed by an imposing trek to Sale, where they were beaten 27-13 in October 2006.

"Looking beyond that is perilous. This is an extremely tough group. Everyone respects each other. We're playing quality rugby against quality teams," says McGahan, who is acutely mindful that only Leicester, in 2002, have retained the trophy, seven other winners having failed.

McGahan and Munster have been here before, losing in the quarter-finals at Llanelli two seasons ago as defending champions, and acknowledging that retaining the Heineken Cup is an extremely difficult thing to do, McGahan put it into further perspective.

"Just to get out of your pool from year to year is difficult. Wasps (in 2004-05 and last season) won it and didn't get out of their pool the next year. Getting into the play-offs is difficult, let alone getting back to the podium and holding up a trophy again. It's a high-quality competition, and deservedly so."

There are many aspects at work that make it at least doubly hard for the holders to retain the Cup. Most of all, they become the most prized scalp, and not alone might their own hunger not be as fierce, invariably their game has to evolve for success to continue.

"Sometimes when you win you look back and think the formula that worked last year is going to work again the following year, which it doesn't really," says McGahan. "And when you're at the top of the perch, you're the one being hunted now.

"I think you need to reverse that and you need to go back and consistently set the standards higher. Also it's luck of draw sometimes, all those little things."

Recalling a moment when Clermont were cutting Munster to ribbons in Stade Marcel Michelin last season, McGahan added, "For instance, last year, we wouldn't have been anywhere near the Millennium Stadium had Rua Tipoki not held up Elvis Vermeulen in the right-hand corner inside the first half."

But for that, Munster might have been 27-3 down rather than 20-3 down approaching half-time.

"No Gloucester, no Saracens, no Toulouse, but for that one piece of play in the 25th minute of round three," says McGahan. "That really sums up the level which the competition is at."

You could make a case for any one of around a dozen of the 24 sides ultimately winning the trophy at Murrayfield next May.

"At least," adds McGahan. "You look at the quality of the Guinness Premiership and the top five or six sides there and then you throw in your top contenders in France and the Magners League."

So, the hardest club competition to win in the world?

"Without a doubt," he says with a smile.

Bring it on.