"INTELLIGENT aggression" is a trait that has marked Dick Spring's progress on the football field and in politics. The leader of the Labour Party has not played international rugby for the past 15 years but he still attacks out of defence in many of his political dealings.
"The patron saint of the bad mood" is how one senior party member regards this private, prickly, defensive Kerry man who has become the most effective leader ever chosen by the Labour Party.
Lowlevel back pain may have something to do with it, for even his quirky sense of humour is frequently barbed. Mr Spring fractured his spine in three places in a car crash in 1982 and has suffered intermittently ever since.
During the recent Irish Presidency of the EU, the long, gruelling hours of hard slog caught up with him. He had to lie flat for a week, just to keep his muscles from going into spasm. But it didn't stop him from presiding over what was regarded as a highly successful presidency or from being fully engaged in the Northern Ireland talks process.
Dislike of him by unionist politicians mirrors that felt within Fianna Fail. He is condemned as arrogant and overbearing and is regarded as a formidable, dangerous opponent.
Within the Labour Party, he has dealt ruthlessly with militant leftwingers. He does not, according to an admirer, "blow with the wind, even under intense pressure". And, oddly enough, he is regarded as "essentially cautious". Because of past "bruising" by the media, Mr Spring doesn't particularly like journalists. And, as party leader, he is still in the process of proving himself.
He has always been tough and unorthodox. As a newly qualified barrister Mr Spring spent two years waiting on tables in New York to raise money to establish a legal practice in Ireland. On his return, he entered local politics, succeeded to his father's North Kerry Dail seat in 1981 and was immediately appointed as a junior minister.
At the age of 32 he became leader of the Labour Party and at 33, Tanaiste and Minister for the Environment. In 10 years, Mr Spring brought the party from the depths of the 1987 election, when it won 12 Dail seats, to the triumph of 1992, when the party returned 33 TDs and, unexpectedly, entered government with Fianna Fail.
The rollercoaster has not stopped. Mr Spring was determined that never again would Labour be taken for granted. Destruction of the traditional 2 1/2 party system of government with Labour as piglet in the middle was his driving ambition.
When John Bruton attempted to dictate the composition of government in 1992, Mr Spring embraced Fianna Fail and its promise of a ceasefire "deal" with Sinn Fein. Two years later, after Albert Reynolds engaged in a "solo run" on the beef tribunal report and ignored Labour's objections to Harry Whelehan, he turned to Fine Gael and Democratic Left.
The Tanaiste takes chances, lives dangerously and, at the moment, is involved in the greatest gamble of his political career. Last month, with the Labour Party stuck at 11 per cent in the opinion polls and a general election approaching like an express train, he turned his back on Fianna Fail and ran up a Rainbow pennant. It was to be all, or nothing at all. Mr Spring, a country boy with city appeal, is under a high, dropping ball.