The story goes that when John Mitchell and Warren Gatland were flatmates in a house with a couple of other Waikato players in Hamilton, Mitchell left the washing machine on while they all went away for a weekend. On returning they discovered it had been running for three days. All their towels had turned a mouldy brown and were riddled with tears and holes.

Amid the constant round of questioning this week about their long-time friendship, this one gets a frequent airing. "He wasn't a great flatmate. He wasn't much good at the cooking and housework," chides Gatland. Mitchell hasn't been inclined to dispute this.

New Zealand rugby careers have a tendency to put friendships on the long finger, but it's clear the bond between them is strong. They met briefly at Ravenhill on Tuesday, but though one of them will have more to crow about tonight they'll undoubtedly have a few beers and recall the washing machine story and others.

It's funny how cyclical sporting careers can be. The same age, not only were they flatmates, they went on to play together an estimated 124 times for Waikato, though curiously never for the All Blacks. Gatland had been jettisoned by the time Mitchell had been called in at 29, ostensibly as an experienced midweek captain. Now Mitchell makes his first foray as All Black coach against his long-time team-mate and friend.

There's an irony in here that hasn't been lost on either of them, for they both had always thought Gatland the likelier to go into coaching. "Gats, when you become coach of Waikato can I be your assistant?" Mitchell occasionally joked to Gatland.

Any doubts about Mitchell not being a throwback to the grizzled and gnarled school of New Zealand forward play can be dispelled by one episode which Gatland recalls.

"The first thing about Mitch I remember was at a training session before we played Wales. We beat them in '89. At that stage Waikato were looking for a second-row, Mitch was brought in for training and then by the end of the session, before the team was selected, he had taken all the second-rows out at training. So that sort of describes his attitude."

Mitchell built a reputation as a teak-tough, hard player, who evolved into a number eight with good hands - the product, possibly, of a year playing national league basketball.

Which defining characteristic will Mitchell bring?

"Uncompromising," said Gatland with due consideration. "They'll be very fired up. This week's training will be about last man standing basically. They'll have a very physical week and I'd say they'll have a lot of emotion and intensity in the changing-rooms beforehand as well. As a player he led from the front in terms of the physical imput, he trained that way, and that's the way he coaches also."

Mitchell says he was lucky as Waikato captain to have Gatland as one of the leaders in the team.

"He had an enormous amount of knowledge about the game, very innovative. He was also a very positive individual, he was good for me as a captain, and he seemed to have composure and time. I was very fortunate, I probably had five Warren Gatlands above me in my time which I think in some ways was probably the catalyst leading me into coaching and gaining leadership skills."

As coaches, Gatland concurs with the contrast which Mitchell draws between the two. "We'd be quite a lot different to be honest," Mitchell says. "I suppose I'm probably a little more direct as a person, whereas Warren is very calculated. He probably thinks things through a lot better, whereas I've probably made quicker decisions in my life."

This week they have been recalling the same highs. Winning the NPC in 1992, beating an All Black-studded Auckland at Eden Park (where they hadn't lost in eight years for the Ranfury Shield in '93) and beating the Lions in '93.

By then Mitchell had already played under Murray Kidd with Garryowen in the inaugural season of the AIB League in 1990-91. He hails that season as a great experience.

"Some of the train trips back from Ballymena and the like were just something that I'd never experienced in my life. I remember 10,000 people at Dooradoyle for the deciding game, and while we didn't achieve what they wanted I still have great memories of that day."

Keith Wood recalls working in the Wolfe Tone Bar and Mitchell always ordering tomato sandwiches for lunch.

"He's grown a lot since then," Mitchell recalls of the then under-20 Garryowen captain. "But even then he had a passion for the game; an absolute passion. He asked an enormous amount of questions about how to improve his game. So it doesn't surprise me that he's achieved what he has. And the other good thing about him is he's a bloody good person."

The Kidd connection would later see him become the Irish forwards coach for 14 weeks for the 1996 Five Nations. Mitchell admits he was "very green to be honest" at the time. Irish players recall his notorious sessions in Atlanta prior to the '96 championship, memorable for his Hennie Mullers - punishing criss-cross running drills. The impetuous nature he confesses to earned him a reputation at Sale for being technically excellent if not the best man manager in coaching, though that is clearly one of the attributes he has improved upon along the way.

A good talker, he seems to have become more careful in his utterances judging by the way he effortlessly switched through an hour-long sequence of countless interviews at the Killiney Castle Hotel on Wednesday. "A good bloke," is how Keith Wood and others describe him, very sociable and loyal to his many friends.

Aside from the obvious differences which the provinces have made, Mitchell detects other changes in Irish rugby players.

"Actually it's very noticeable how much the players' shapes have changed. The conditioning or whatever they've been doing has been excellent, and obviously there's also a noticeable difference in some of their skill levels.

"That's really pleasing to see, because that's what coaching is all about and Gatty has got to be patted on the back too, along with his staff, for achieving that, because I do know some of these players."

He concedes the Irish job was "the catalyst" for fast-tracking him into the English system as coach at Sale and as English forwards coach. "I spent almost four-and-a-half years in England, and 208 professional, first-class games. The same experience would have taken me 12 years in New Zealand. It taught me a lot about how to deal with professionalism."

Then he returned home to take over the reins at the Waikato Chiefs before the All Blacks job became available sooner than expected. To a degree Wayne Smith talked himself out of the job despite coming within a minute, or one botched lineout, or one missed tackle of beating the world champion Wallabies in Sydney to clinch the Tri-Nations.

"The way justice got handed out was a bit unfortunate," says new All Black skipper Anton Oliver. "That was very poorly handled, media leaks, and public pressure and talkback (radio) went nuts. It unearthed all the bad things in society that you'd like to think don't exist but then come bubbling up. People want a scapegoat."

In any event, cue Mitchell. "I was really looking forward to having the whole season with the Chiefs, right through to May 25th," he admits. "We were due to start pre-season in November. It's a great competition to be involved in, playing through the summer months.

"Yeah, I suppose there was some unfinished business in my heart there, but, as you know, in life sometimes your plans come early, sometimes they come late, sometimes they don't come at all, so you've got to take it when it does."

He clearly intends giving youth its fling, believing as he does that the window for an All Black player has dropped from 21-32 to 17-25.

"We have a wonderfully talented nursery with younger players coming through and therefore you're having to prepare them to deal with pressure from a young age a lot earlier. Every team is different. I don't really have one particular philosophy. I'd like to think I'm a pretty curious and aware coach. I suppose I look to explore how I can motivate and improve my players' performance."

He is under ferocious pressure to deliver, starting immediately. "People keep telling me that, but I see it more as an opportunity. I've been a professional coach now for pretty close to seven years. My career is determined by results; results determine whether there's bread and butter on the table so I know exactly the territory that I'm in. Those people who know me very well know I'll give this my best shot and I'll put everything into it, and that's just the way I am."

Nothing much would scare John Mitchell, you sense, least of all the hottest job in world rugby.