Former Eagle lands at the top of Irish tree

Eddie O'sullivan's introduction to rugby came as an underage player with Youghal RFC in Cork. Educated at CBS Youghal, he played underage and junior rugby for the club before moving to Limerick to take up a place at the Thomond College of Education.

He left with an honours degree in physical education, mathematics and science and, thanks to an encounter with Tony Ward, joined the Garryowen club. He played at Dooradoyle from 1978 to 1989 and during that time won two Munster senior league medals. Although he played on the wing for most of his career, he enjoyed a season at outhalf (1985) and finished his playing career with a season at Corinthians.

During that period he amassed "a dozen or so" appearances for Munster and scored a famous try in the red jersey against Andy Slack's Grand Slam Wallabies. He taught in the Holy Rosary College, Mountbellew and coached the girls' basketball team to an All-Ireland title.

He then took up an invitation to become a Development Officer with the IRFU from 1988-91. His first coaching appointment was that of Monivea. He moved to Blackrock College as assistant coach for two years before guiding the club to Division One.

O'Sullivan had been working with Connacht as assistant to George Hook from 1990. He had two spells as head coach - Hook left for a year to look after London Irish.

He coached Galwegians for a year and then the Ireland under-21 team, whom he led to the 1995-96 Triple Crown. The following season at Greystones, the team enjoyed a famous win over an England under-21 side coached by Clive Woodward.

He then accepted an invitation to become the assistant National Technical Director of American rugby, a position he held for a year and a half before Technical Director for a further 12 months. During that time he assisted American coach Jack Clarke, and had primary responsibility for coaching the forwards.

He also coached Buccaneers during that time for two seasons, the second of which saw him guide them to an AIB League semi-final place.

He was the assistant coach to the US Eagles team that Ireland faced in the 1999 World Cup. His return to Irish rugby was swift when, in November 1999, just a short time after the debacle of Lens when Ireland lost to Argentina, he was appointed assistant coach to Warren Gatland.

Given a carte blanche to improve Ireland's back play, he achieved that as (with the exception of the Twickenham and Murrayfield set-backs) the quality improved significantly.

O'Sullivan (43) is noted for his strong views and is a tough disciplinarian. He will demand that things are done his way and won't tolerate those who don't follow his direction.