Well the first thing I know is that I don’t think I have won a game here at Ravenhill, except with Ireland A. I first came here with NSW Waratahs in 1996.I know Ulster Rugby very well, having coached a lot of players through Ireland A, Jeremy Davidson, David Humphreys, Simon Best, Tyrone Howe alongside Mark McCall who was my assistant Coach and he is a fine man and a fine coach.  I know the North Very well and am still great friends with Willie Anderson and Paddy Johns.

Have you spoken to any of the players about this role?

I have spoke to David and one or 2 other just to get an opinion because when you are on the outside looking in it is very different to the inside, that is why I am here this week, to do a lot of listening and not a lot of talking. I’m looking forward to speaking to players and management and coaches to see how we can move things forward because I’m certain that we can.”

Is there anything that you will change immediately?
I think if you change too much you will fail, the trick is just to listen and change a few key areas and  one of the main things is just going to be the players mindsets. Everyone is trying their hardest and working as hard as they can but the performances aren’t there and when you’re in that cycle you have to break the cycle. We will just work on a few small areas just to change that way of looking at the world and it is a cliché but it is true, it is a habit.

It was well documented in the media that you had a difficult decision to make in taking the job because your kids are at a hard age to move schools etc - how hard was the decision?

The rugby decision was very easy, I made the rugby decision within 15 minutes of being offered the job. It was a very easy decision, I know Irish Rugby very well, I was very happy here and I was always treated extremely well. I thought it was a good opportunity to work with a team that I know can perform better than they are. But, It was just hard family wise with the children at school and I am sure everyone out there with teenage children will know exactly what I am talking about.

Will you make any changes to the back-room staff at UR (talk of a scrum coach - any other part-time/consultancy specialist roles)?

I’m certainly not going to be doing anything like that in the short term, I think Steve Williams is doing a phenomenal job, to be a young coach and to be by yourself at this standard of rugby when it’s a tough time and the teams not winning I think he deserves a huge amount of credit. If I was a staff member I wouldn’t like to be judged from the outside without them knowing so that’s why I’m talking to people and and going to be viewing to see how we can make it better. But what must be said is that we are not performing how we would like so we have to look at everyone and all the performances but we’re not coming in with any concrete ideas or people in mind

When will you begin negotiations with players who are out of contract at end of this season?

After about 5 minutes.

Do you see yourself needing to bring in new players

Well it depends on how those conversations go. I’m a firm believer that Ulster men should be playing for Ulster so the more Irish players we have the better but if we haven’t got those players we have to go looking for others. It’s an International market out there but I certainly hope we can put as many Ulstermen on the field as possible.

Will your family be joining you in Belfast?

Probably not in the short term because the school terms are a bit problematic but we’ll sort that out.

When will you officially take over as Head Coach?

1st February

Ravenhill will have a big crowd when Ulster take on Munster on Friday which is a game you're going to watch, what do you think of/remember about the atmosphere?

It’s has a fabulous atmosphere in 1996 the first time I ever came here with NSW Waratahs and David Campese turned and said to me, ‘We’re taking on 10,000 here’ which was definitely how it felt at the time.” admits Williams. “They are a fantastic group of supporters and the team are really going to need them in the next few months as they fight to turn the season around.

Knowledge of Irish Rugby - how do you think Ulster differ from your previous team, Leinster?

That’s hard for me to say right now, every team is different and every province has its own culture, I really respect that I’m really honoured to given the opportunity to coach a great team. The team will differ in the way that the players want it to differ; it’s up to the boys how they will define their standards and their behaviour. It’s interesting how things have turned out - when I went to Leinster on the Wednesday and we played Munster on the Friday. I stayed in the same hotel as Munster and by accident I’m going to do the same for this match! So if it turns out as good as Leinster did I’ll be pretty happy. At Leinster, when I arrived the players were all quite angry that they weren’t winning and really would have paid any price that was asked of them in order to win and that’s what we’ll be asking of the Ulster boys so they’ll decide their own future.

What sort of rugby would you envisage Ulster playing?

My background is running rugby and everywhere I’ve went I’ve tried to incorporate that but I think what we need to do first is get the team to perform and I think once we start performing and the team gets some confidence we can take steps forward but to go out and say we’re going to play a Barbarians style of running rugby straight away is wrong. We will come up together with a plan and a style that suits us for the next 3 or 4 months and then we’ll build on that.

Where do you see the side at the end of the season?

None of us have the ability to look into the future and what I ultimately want is a team that the Ulster supporters can be proud. That they can see that the team is really trying hard and giving every game all they’ve got. And for the players I want them to perform so that they can enjoy their rugby because when you’re looking forward to the battle it makes it so much more possible to win. When you’re not performing there’s a cycle that drags you down. If the supporters are really proud of the performance from the players and the players are enjoying the rugby the results will follow.