Gerry Thornley talks to Leinster's forwards coach WillieAnderson, who despite his setbacks, remainspassionate about the game

Being a passionate bloke, Willie Anderson has a passion for the game like few others. Long before it became remotely trendy, he had devoted himself to a coaching career - pitfalls and all. He envisages himself as a Bobby Robson-type figure, still barking instructions from the sidelines well into his dotage. With Willie, you couldn't imagine it any other way.

Take this week. It began with a 5.30 a.m. alarm call on Monday at his home in Dungannon, to be on the road by 6.15 a.m. for Leinster's first get-together of the week, taking the line-out session and then the full afternoon run-out. An overnight stay in the Montrose Hotel was followed by another session on Tuesday morning. He then returned home for Dungannon's evening session.

His hands-on influence with Leinster ended on Tuesday, as today he'll be taking care of the day job, so to speak, when his club Dungannon, the All Ireland League champions, entertain Blackrock.

Tomorrow his Irish under-19s continue to prepare for the FIRA World Championships in Venice in March with a game against the Lansdowne under-20s, near Dublin Airport, which dovetails with his once-a-fortnight work with the Ulster-based players in the IRFU Academy.

He hopes to catch the Leicester-Leinster second-half on TV. Apparently he does have a life outside his family and rugby, though you'd wonder how, and it's as well the former Irish captain is as besotted about this game as he ever was.

Anderson first came across Leinster coach Matt Williams when Anderson went to Australia on a fact-finding mission as an IRFU development officer a decade ago. They've been in regular contact, Williams taking a developmental New South Wales side to London Irish when Anderson was coach there. Last season Williams invited Anderson along to help with Leinster's line-out.

This season his role has expanded to incorporate some rucking and continuity work with the forwards though Anderson stresses Dungannon is his priority. Nonetheless, he's had a significant input into Leinster's rejuvenation.

"Away from rugby he's just a really extroverted, positive person. The glass is always half-full with Willie," says Williams. "He brings a lot of enthusiasm and technically his line-out and continuity stuff is world-class. The fact that he's coaching the under-19s is absolutely fantastic for Irish rugby."

"He's got charisma and he's got the stripes, which is important at this level," says Leinster manager Ken Ging. "He's a very good communicator, he's a good man-manager and he's popular with the lads. He's been excellent for us."

As with the decision to bring Roly Meates aboard (Ging renewing a relationship that went back to the late 1980s at Leinster with Meates as head coach and Ging chairman of selectors), Williams is to be commended for that. Snubbed by Ulster, it was a timely reminder that Anderson still has plenty to offer at the highest level.

In his spartan hotel room on Monday evening in tracksuit and Leinster short-sleeved jersey he looks every inch the professional sportsman, taking a break from coaching or watching rugby to talk rugby. "I was very disappointed not to get the Ulster job but sometimes these things work for you," he admits, evidence of his more sanguine approach emerging quickly.

"I know I interviewed well but they wanted somebody else and y'know, in ways, when you come into a set-up like Leinster and learn a bit more, you say 'well maybe you weren't ready?' So the next time a situation comes along at this level you know you have a greater armoury."

Alan Solomons wanted his own choices of assistants at Ulster, which left no room for Anderson - Anderson says that's how it should be. By the same criteria, Declan Kidney, Steph Nel and, of course, Williams, pick their own men, which resulted in a few choice comments coming Anderson's way from visiting alickadoos when Leinster hosted Ulster in August.

"I'm sure there are some people who aren't very happy with that but that's their problem. I was asked to do a job and not only do I feel it's been fairly successful, it will get better. I've got a great opportunity here. I'm a professional, I come in and do my job, and then I go back and do my job in Dungannon. It's still my ambition to coach Ulster one day. I'm an Ulster man."

Though not quite ostracised to the extent Meates was by the IRFU for taking sides with the players, Anderson too was elbowed aside when unofficial Irish forwards coach in the 1993-93 and 1993-94 seasons before heading off to London Irish, and after being rejected by Ulster, might have been similarly shunned.

In bringing Anderson and Meates in from the cold, and in reviving the careers of Shane Byrne, Reggie Corrigan, Victor Costello, Eric Miller, Paul Wallace and others, team Leinster seems almost to be outdoing the Samaritans. But it's the shared responsibility of an expanded management which has opened Anderson's eyes.

For all Williams' reknowned professionalism and the technical expertise of the back-up staff, Anderson gives credit to the players for the changed mindset.

"The difference with Leinster this year is that the older guys like Reggie and Victor and Shane took a bit of responsibility for themselves. 'We've always been second best - let's finish our careers by doing something in the next couple of years.'

"It's disappointing not to be at home (in the European Cup quarter-final) but now we'll see what they're made of. They have match-winners. They have more match-winners than Leicester have. So they have to go in with that attitude. They have to go in with the attitude that they can score from the length of the pitch."

The mutual respect and trust between Williams and Anderson has always been strong and you sense they're revelling in strengthening the bond between them by finally working together.

"I think he's well organised and, again, like myself he's been through the hard yards, and he's also realised he doesn't know it all, which is the most valuable thing for a coach. I think that's very important, because the biggest strength of any coach is to know your weaknesses. Any coach who thinks he can do it all is dead in the water.

"He's a strong personality, he's a winner, he wants the side to perform for themselves, he wants the side to be disciplined and to be professional. He's given that to them, and the areas that he does work, like team play or defence, he's excellent. Best in the world."

Anderson has done his hard yards, too, and having earned the first of 27 caps at the age of 29, has had his share of kicks in the teeth along the way. "I suppose if you play for Ireland and you get dropped those are low points, so when you get dropped five times you know how to handle it the fifth time," he jokes. Even when moved aside as unofficial Irish coach in 1994, and being overlooked in 1995, Anderson reflects: "I had to go away and learn my trade. If I had have gone in at that stage I don't think I would have done a good job. I don't think I was ready for it then."

He believes he had turned things around when London Irish sacked him in 1998 and not getting the Ulster job last year was another low point. Even so there have been good days, reaching the pinnacle as a player when leading his country, most notably in the pre-match face-off with the All Blacks at Haka time in 1989.

"That was planned with Jimmy Davidson. We thought 'why does the public give the applause to the opposition first rather than the team they're purporting to support?' So we just tried to turn it around."

As a player he made the most of what he had, and can be pretty happy with his achievements as a coach.

As Irish assistant coach there were the wins over England in 1993 and 1994. "The one in Twickenham ('94) was just fantastic, beautiful." Guiding Dungannon to an ultra-stylish AIL title last year was right up there, in the process helping David Humphreys and others to new levels of performance. And then there was the Celtic League final win with Leinster over Munster.

"To be part of that emotion was unforgettable, to see Leinster turn it around and to see the people of Leinster turn it around and pull their side through - that will stand by them. They've gone away from the bridesmaid's scene, and I hope they can pull off a massive one this Sunday because this is their final."

It's been a rollercoaster, as is somehow fitting for Anderson, and is even typified by the 3½ weeks he spent in a Buenos Aires prison and four months under house arrest for attempting to pilfer an Argentinian flag for his bedroom wall.

"Davey Irwin and Frank Wilson came along with me and got thrown in the slammer as well," he recalls. Though his freedom cost him a fortune, he admits it was a scary time. "One of the generals wanted us executed or 10 years in jail."

Returning home, Diego Maradona was on the same flight from Buenos Aires, en route to Spain, though Anderson wasn't inclined to meet him. "I was just glad to get home." In any event, it was through a daily-written dialogue with Heather during his incarceration that they renewed their on-off relationship and married within a year.

Diplomacy wouldn't always have been an Anderson trademark. He could be belligerent and abrasive, and not the best at currying favour with those in power. He admits in the past he wore his heart on his sleeve a little too much, and didn't think things through enough and take advice.

"I would be the first to admit I've made mistakes in the past. I probably didn't handle myself as well as I should have done. Being a bit headstrong, I probably wouldn't have listened to advice."

Over the years he's mellowed, Davey Haslett proving a calming mentor at Dungannon, and latterly Leinster has been as good for him as he's been for Leinster.

"I've learned my lessons and the ambition is still there, just keep working towards that. Even though I'm in a professional set-up with Dungannon I'd love one day to work in a provincial set-up professionally to take that next step. And ultimately I'd like to coach Ireland, whether it's coach or assistant coach."

There was a time when he wouldn't have added the second option.