New Munster coach will wield the axe
Branch management are wasting no time in progressing the succession stakes, with interviews for the post expected to begin in Dublin this afternoon.
Leinster boss Declan Kidney and Connacht coach Michael Bradley are among the candidates.
Gaffney remains as coaching director up to June and he has already taken part in negotiations with a few players whose contracts expire this season. But he is conscious that a new coach might have new ideas. Already, Jason Holland, Jim Williams, Gordon McIlwham and Tom Bowman have decided to retire at the end of the season, Eoin Reddan has been snapped up by Wasps and both James and Mike Storey are unlikely to be involved.
Most other frontline players in the squad are expected to be around next season although a few, amongst them Anthony Horgan, are out of contract and involved in negotiations.
Uppermost in the new coach's mind will be the necessity to sign one or more high-quality attacking centre three-quarters. Mike Mullins is pushing on and Munster's attempts to solve their midfield problems rebounded when 33-year-old Brian Lima was injured in the build-up to Sunday's defeat by Biarritz.
Lima will remain with Munster until the end of the season, assuming he recovers from his calf strain. If he can prove his fitness, he will play in the Celtic League clash with Edinburgh in two weeks time and could also figure in the Celtic Cup.
That would give Gaffney, and his successor, an opportunity to assess the Samoan with a view to offering him a one-year contract. It's a possibility more than a probability.
Winger Horgan became the 14th player in the history of the Heineken Cup to play 50 games in the tournament on Sunday. Sadly, it wasn't the occasion he hoped for.
"I wasn't aware that I was playing my 50th game until reminded of it just before the match. I would much prefer for it to have been my 49th and to have won the game than to play my 50th and lose."
But Horgan still felt a sense of pride amidst the pain. "At half-time we were out of it at 16 points down. It was too much of a gap to bridge and we gave away a really silly try. The annoying thing is that this was still a game we could have won. I thought we played some pretty good rugby at times and really put it up to Biarritz. We know that and they know that.
"It all came down to mistakes in the end and that seems to be the story of our season. We haven't been that far away from getting it together, just one error here, one there, and a couple of adjustments in the way we actually played on the day might have made all the difference.
"It's easy to be wise after the event but the mood in the dressing room afterwards was one of annoyance, of frustration, knowing that we could easily have won the game."
Horgan suggested that Munster may have panicked a bit. "We probably pushed a little too hard at times in the second half instead of going through the phases and keeping our composure. Again, it was all down to the odd mistake and we paid a heavy price for every one of them."
The Heineken Cup is gone, the Celtic League has already been won by Neath/Swansea Ospreys, but Horgan is grateful that there is one opportunity to win something before the end of the season.
Irrespective of Munster's results in their remaining two Celtic League matches - against Borders and Edinburgh - they will qualify for a home quarter-final in the Celtic Cup.
"It's a chance to win some silverware and it would be something. We set our goal at winning the Heineken Cup, that was the one we wanted, but we have to re-group now and take whatever consolation prize we can get."
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