To begin at the half-way point, so to speak: first off, Munster's stirring second-half comeback had to be explained. Where did the energy, desire and intensity come from? What had Alan Gaffney said to his team at the interval?

"Not a lot really," the Munster coach replied. "I don't have to say much; they're a very intelligent bunch of players. They knew full well what the (first-half) mistakes were. We committed too many indiscretions and gave away too many penalties in the first half. If you give someone of the ilk of (Dimitri) Yachvili that many kicks at goal it just isn't acceptable, and we probably turned over too much ball. Our support play at the tackle area probably wasn't what it should have been."

In one of the most poignant sights of the day, long after the teams had left the pitch and most of the supporters had left the ground, Alan Quinlan (whose indiscretions had seen Yachvili land his last two penalties of the first half) returned from the dressing-room to sit alone and disconsolately on a bench.

They had expended every ounce of energy, yet the overriding feeling for the team's captain, Anthony Foley, was one of frustration again.

"When you come so far and you come up short, it was obviously the penalties that we gave away in the first half and the turnover for the try that was crucial. People say it was the penalties Yachvili kicked that made the difference. It wasn't. It was the penalties that left them off the hook when we had them under pressure.

"At times we just needed to be a small bit patient and maybe we could have got a better result."

An unlikely turnaround had seen a frustrating endgame, with Biarritz prompting all manner of stoppages to stem Munster's increasing tempo.

"It's a tactic that's obviously employed to break up the tempo of the game," said Foley, "and I guarantee you if we were in the same position we would have done the exact same thing."

Gaffney also declined to speculate on the legality of Biarritz's first-half try by Martin Gaitan, despite strong suspicions the turnover had originated from use of hands on the deck at a ruck. "As far as I'm concerned I have no complaints about the try and nor do any of the players."

Asked what areas of the Biarritz game had hurt Munster, Peter Stringer commented, "Off lineouts they got a lot of good ball and hit it up the middle of the field.

"We weren't able to cope with the speed of their delivery but in the second half our possession stopped them from getting the ball as much in those areas."

Patrick Lagisquet, the Biarritz coach, and his players, looked palpably relieved to be attending the press conference as winners. Confirming as much, Lagisquet admitted: "When Munster scored at the start of the second half it was obviously very concerning and I feared they might score again very quickly. I also saw some signs of weakness in our defence. There were a few missed tackles and anybody who knows me knows that I get very excited during matches.

"Munster were extremely hard in contact and we were suffering for making a lot of high tackles. Munster do not have a lot of pace in their backs but I was a little perturbed by our inability to adapt to a faster game."

When Yachvili, bedecked in a suit and looking like he'd come from the office, was asked if Munster were a fading force, Lagisquet raised his eyebrows doubtfully. "On the contrary, I don't think they are a fading force. With the age of their team they have very experienced players and they are very well organised. They have good scrums and lineouts, and they know what strengths to play to."

It had, Lagisquet concluded, been an incredible occasion. "Obviously the Munster supporters make a lot of noise but our supporters today were amazing. I think it was better to play the game here in San Sebastian than at the Aguilera (Biarritz's home ground) because it enabled more of our supporters to come to the game."