All Blacks lured by the vision of cold steel

Troubled nation expects Mitchell to encourage a return to basic instincts

It would have been fascinating if John Mitchell's All Blacks had been playing England, but Tests against Ireland, in Dublin next Saturday, followed by Scotland and Argentina, will be intriguing enough. Given the hottest seat in world rugby, Mitchell's progress will be monitored not just by the population of New Zealand but also by the hierarchy at Twickenham.

Eighteen months ago the man from the Land of the Long White Cloud left England under a large black one after the Rugby Football Union dithered over giving Mitchell a contract. At the time he was coaching the England forwards and also working with Wasps. "More could have been done to ensure John stayed,'' Lawrence Dallaglio said. "His information and knowledge were a huge help. Good coaches aren't exactly queueing up in this country.'' Nigel Melville, the Wasps director of rugby, was also sorry to see him go. "What was sad is the way it was done. England couldn't make a decision as to whether they wanted him or not.''

When Mitchell was offered a coaching job by Waikato Chiefs he had a meeting with Clive Woodward. "I wanted to know if there was a future for me in England,'' Mitchell said. "No one could say. We could have come to an arrangement, but with nobody willing to make a decision I felt I had no choice.''

In the interim England appointed Andy Robinson while Mitchell's southern star joined the heavenly bodies with his appointment last month as the All Blacks coach. Forget politics or business. This is the most important job in New Zealand and Mitchell is now bigger even than Jonah Lomu. A young 37 who is as bald as a pea and whose protruding ears are not so much cauliflower as allotment, he has the task of re-establishing the Silver Fern, a brand that lost its power and mystique when France ran the All Blacks into the ground at Twickenham in the World Cup semi-final two years ago.

New Zealand comfortably won the inaugural World Cup in 1987, since when the Webb Ellis trophy has been lifted by Australia twice and South Africa. In Auckland and Christchurch this is regarded as a national disgrace, compounded by the fact that the Wallabies, second-rate 14 years ago, are No 1 in the world.

Mitchell's mission is to reverse the world order with the loathed enemy from across the Tasman Sea and recapture the World Cup in two years' time. First, though, his inauguration, an awkward encounter with the revitalised Irish at Lansdowne Road. Ireland, like Scotland, have never beaten the All Blacks and this is arguably their best chance. Warren Gatland, another Kiwi, got the best out of his team in that memorable victory over England, and although it would take another high-octane drive in leadership from Keith Wood – his opposite number will be the Otago hooker and All Blacks captain Anton Oliver – an historic day in Dublin is not out of the question.

Mitchell may be new to the job but he knows his way around Ireland. A No 8 who captained the mid-week All Blacks on their British tour eight years ago, he first came to prominence as a coach when he worked with the Irish national side in 1996. Paul Turner recommended him to Sale and when Turner left the Manchester club, Mitchell took over as player-coach. "My original plan was to play rugby for a couple of years, then I was landed with the whole shooting match,'' he said. "That was never my intention, although I'm very grateful for the opportunities that have arisen.''

In 1999 Mitchell, who took Sale to the cup final two seasons earlier, was ousted following a players' meeting. Their only excuse is that they didn't know they were dealing with a future All Blacks coach. That was when Mitchell teamed up with Woodward and the two were together for 33 Tests, culminating in the Grand Slam loss to Scotland at Murrayfield.

The All Blacks play the Scots in Edinburgh on 24 November and Ian McGeechan is another history man in the waiting. "We will have to be right on top of our game,'' the Scotland coach said, "but our win over Ireland delighted me. Playing that match was a very good focus for us. I know Mitch well and his depth of experience in the northern hemisphere will help him on this tour.''

Mitchell beat 21 other candidates for the post including his predecessor, Wayne Smith. For the second successive season, Smith, who had taken over from John Hart, lost the Tri-Nations to Australia in the dying minutes, prompting half the nation to ring radio stations demanding his head. Smith decided to test public opinion by resigning and re-applying for the job. In effect he fell on his sword.

"John Mitchell will restore old-fashioned All Black values,'' announced Murray McCaw, chairman of the NZRFU, a view echoed by the former captain Zinzan Brooke. "As a No 8 he played a good old game of New Zealand rugby, which was enshrined in the 60s and 70s, a hard-nosed, raw-boned Kiwi approach,'' Brooke said. "As a coach he gets the best out of the players, simple as that. He squeezes an extra 20 per cent from somewhere.''

A return to traditional values suggests the All Blacks, whose forwards sometimes seem to be marginalised by the free-scoring, all-singing, all-dancing Super 12s, will return to basics with the development of a pack that needs to find another Colin "Pinetree" Meads. The nearest thing to Meads is lurking on the left wing, in the shape of Lomu.

"I don't subscribe to the view that the All Blacks have a soft pack,'' McGeechan said. "They beat South Africa twice this year and you don't do that with soft forwards. However, the All Blacks need a driving platform to work off and must address a weakness in the line-out.''

The All Blacks are without their first choice No 8 Ron Cribb, who has a knee injury and, more mysteriously, Christian Cullen. Omitted from the squad, the multi-talented Cullen issued a statement saying he had declared himself unavailable because of injury, but this was rejected by the management who insisted he had been left out because of poor form.

It was Mitchell's first significant act and it won't be his last. "I wouldn't be here but for the England experience,'' Mitchell said. "It was my learning ground.'' It remains to be seen whether New Zealand's gain is England's loss.