By Barney Burnham
April 17 2005

BB: Ian, if the media are to be believed over the past few weeks, it's been a tug-of-war between Wasps and Bath to secure your services. What made you decide to come here? IM: I'd had a meeting with Chris Wright and things moved fairly quickly. It was simply the right thing to do.

BB: Some would say it's almost a poisoned chalice, as Warren Gatland has achieved so much and will be an extremely hard act to follow.

IM: I agree. I think it is a huge challenge, but I haven't gone away from those in the past. I think the exciting thing is the quality of people that are around at Wasps - support as well as the players. I've huge respect for a lot of the players. Obviously, some of them I know personally - some of them I don't know at all and will have to get to know. I just think it's a very exciting operation to come into, and there's no doubt it's a huge challenge. Warren's achievements in the last three years have just been outstanding. You're right - he is going to be a hard act to follow. I'm in no doubt at all about that!

BB: One of the policies which Warren (and Nigel Melville, before him) has stuck to almost religiously is to develop almost exclusively English players. Do you feel you'll be able to carry on with that?

IM: Yes, it was part of the policy I had at Northampton. I like to think Matt Dawson was one of those players I had a hand in developing. My background (a while ago) was as a teacher - because of that, developing players is very much part of my coaching agenda. It always has been, because I think that if you develop the player, you develop the team. You can keep developing players, and I think that's the challenge - whether they've seventy caps or whether they're just coming out of the academy. There are always areas where you can help players see things better or do things a little bit differently. It just gives them a bit of a different perspective. That hands on activity and environment appeals to me greatly.

BB: You were last directly involved in the Premiership about six years ago, with Northampton. How much better do you think it is now, compared with how it was then?

IM: It is much more intense. I think the competition has gone up another level. To be honest, that was always going to be the development of the professional game. It burst on to the scene in 1996 and I don't think any of us were ready for it, and it took a while to settle down. I think the Premiership has been and is an outstanding competition - but there's no doubt now, in any professional game, all the things you put into keeping and increasing that intensity are for success, because that's what the professional game and professional teams demand. Just in the quality of support that goes in for the players, I can see the intensity with which the game is played is up a notch from when I left it.

BB: You mentioned success. What, for you, would be success next season, and what would be failure?

IM: I just want to maintain the standards that are obviously here at Wasps and maintain the challenges and create an environment in which the players feel that they have the best opportunity to be successful. If you're doing that, you've every chance that the wins will look after themselves. I want everything in place where there are no reasons why a player, and a team, feels it can't achieve.

Barney also asked head coach Shaun Edwards, scrumhalf Matt Dawson and skipper Lawrence Dallaglio for their reactions to the new appointment.

Shaun: I've been very fortunate in my short time as a coach. First of all, I worked under Nigel Melville - who was an England scrum-half and an excellent coach in his own right - and then under Warren Gatland, who, in his short time here, has been probably the most successful coach in Wasps' history. Ian McGeechan is obviously a Lions legend. From my meetings with him so far, what's struck me most is that he wants to improve as a coach. He'll certainly fit in at Wasps, with that kind of attitude. We have a commitment to excellence here and are continually striving to improve - in all aspects of play and all aspects of coaching.

BB: You've just signed a new deal as Head Coach. In the mid- to long-term, do you have any aspirations to follow him as Director of Rugby?

SE: I'm a big believer in living in the present. In the last few years, events in my life have taught me a harsh lesson about that. At the moment, I'm fully committed to continuing with my work as Head Coach, and trying to improve the players - obviously the backs, mainly. I'll worry about what happens in two or three years' time, in two or three years' time!

MD: It's a great addition for the club - working alongside Leon Holden and, particularly, Shaun, who is instrumental in the success of the club. I've only been here a year, but I think it was essential to keep someone like that, who understands the core values of the club. One thing Ian does bring is a wealth of experience and an understanding of players - the management of players and the management of coaches. I can just see him fitting him in very, very snugly and hopefully just adding that extra 5-10% to Wasps that can maybe get us back to where we were a year ago.

LBND: The 1997 Lions tour is right up there amongst my fondest and most enjoyable rugby moments, and that coincided with working with Ian, so it's funny the way things come full circle. Eight years later, I've got the opportunity of working with him again. Let's face it, Wasps have taken on board probably one of the most experienced coaches in world rugby. He's played and coached at the very highest level - from domestic and international rugby, right up to the Lions. He's got unique experience and insight into the English game, having had five or six years at Northampton Saints. He's still got an enormous amount of energy and enthusiasm to enhance what we already have, which is a reasonably successful structure at Wasps.