Kidney was officially confirmed as Eddie O'Sullivan's successor in the Ireland hotseat on Wednesday and speaking at the Maryborough House Hotel in Douglas, he said it was an offer he could not turn down.

"It's a huge honour to be asked to coach your national team. I felt that way with (Ireland) Schools and the Under-19s and there were rifts to leave those teams at that particular time.

"It was a rift to leave Munster six years ago and it will be a rift now too (when I leave), but when you look at the honour that's being bestowed on me, you can't say no."

Keen to point out that it will be far from a one-man show when he takes charge of the Ireland senior squad, Kidney paid tribute to the calibre of backroom staff he has worked with at provincial and national levels.

"I've only ever wanted to coach sides that wanted me to coach them.

"I've been lucky in that I've worked with some smashing people.

"If you have that kind of support behind you, the coach is really only a front for everything else that goes on behind you.

"There's so many people that work behind the scenes in the teams I've worked with that have been brilliant.

"Like Bart Fannin with the Irish Under-19s, Keith Patton with the Schools and Niallo (Niall O'Donovan) and Harry Williams with the (Ireland) 'A' side.

"The backroom team at Munster is every bit as good as the one out on the pitch and usually one is a reflection of the other."

Asked if stepping up to the plate as a national senior coach would be intimidating, he replied: "Yes, you'd have to be intimidated by such a job.

"Coaching (a national team) with the way sport is now and with so much emotion, you see the kids wearing the jersey and knowing that you have to represent them the best way you can.

"If I stop to think about it, I will be intimidated.

"So the trick is not to stop and to keep going. That's the challenge.

"If one of the players came up to me and said he had a chance to play for Ireland but said he was thinking of staying put, I'd tell him, 'you will in your ear, off you go!'

" You have to challenge yourself at the highest level," he added.

With possibly another Heineken Cup on the way with Munster meeting Toulouse in the May 24 decider, Kidney is already the most successful coach in the history of Irish provincial rugby.

So how will he cope with the transition from day-to-day work to that of an international coach?

"It's a different type of job. I know that from experience from before," said the 48-year-old, who was Ireland assistant coach between 2002 and 2004.

"There's about 10 or 11 games in an international season but the preparatory work for that is probably greater than it might be here (Munster).

"My job really is to help the players to play to the best of their abilities.

"If I try and play it to suit anybody else then I'll be taking my eye off the ball.

"It's about the players and the days they should be looking forward to.

"What you want to do is to make every minute a player plays for his country a special minute."