Back to basic instinct

But first, some context. It is May 25, 2002, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, the dying seconds of the Heineken Cup final. Munster, trailing Leicester 15-9, are pressing deep into the English side's territory in a last, desperate effort to overhaul the deficit. They win a scrum in the shadow of the posts, giving their dominant pack a perfect platform. After their heartbreaking loss to Northampton two years earlier, it looks like their moment has come.

But then Back sticks his hand in. Literally. Just as Munster scrum-half Peter Stringer is about to feed the ball in, Back knocks it from his grip and spoons it back towards his own forwards. Leicester win the turnover, the ball is booted out, and the cup is all but won.

So the question must be asked: If Edinburgh were on the rack and silverware was on the line, would Back encourage his players to do the same? He wants Edinburgh to be streetwise, but would the older and presumably wiser Back be tut-tutting at signs of such delinquency?

He has had a decade to think about it, but he is clearly struggling with the issue. He shifts in his chair, takes a long pause, mutters a few things about Leicester scoring two tries to nil that day. He says worse things happen 50 times in every game. Frankly, he is flannelling.

"Winning is about going to the edge," he says at last. "Sometimes, to know where the edge is, you have to step over it."

Which is, of course, complete cobblers. To know where the edge is you read the laws of the game. And they certainly don't say it is quite all right for an openside flanker to knock the ball from the opposing scrum-half's hands.

Back is getting defensive now. "The immediate reaction from the Munster players after the game was that it was a non-event," he says. "It was nothing. One of their officials said that if a Munster player had done it he would have been made mayor.

"It wasn't something that was coached or that we trained to do. It was instinctive and I suppose that Peter Stringer, from that day forward, was aware it could happen and prevented it happening again."

It is an answer of sorts. Back adds that he wants his players to win within the laws, but the lack of contrition is striking. And, to be honest about it, probably welcome news to Edinburgh fans as well. As much as they enjoyed that giddy ride to the last four of the Heineken Cup last season, their failure to get to the final came down to the fact that Ulster, their semi-final opponents, had a level of native wit and hard-nosed pragmatism that they could not match when they met in the Aviva Stadium last April.

They also had a huge South African influence in their side, which lends another fascinating dimension to the clash with Saracens at Murrayfield on Saturday, as there are many in the Hertfordshire side's dressing-room whose accents owe more to Pietermaritzburg than Potters Bar. If Edinburgh can get a result against the St Albans Voortrekkers, it would mark a new level of maturity and send the signal that last season's achievements were no mere flash in the pan.

Back's last two coaching roles in England came to sticky ends – relegation at Leeds, financial meltdown at Rugby Lions – but he denies the suggestion he would take any extra pleasure from beating a team from the country of his birth and which he represented 66 times.

Back says: "There is no question Saracens are playing a brand of rugby that is getting them results. It may not be the prettiest, but it is effective. They play in the right areas of the field and they build pressure on the opposition and the referee to give decisions. They have some superb players but I counter that by saying that so do Edinburgh.

"We need to be physical because Saracens are a very physical team, very set-piece oriented. They kick the ball a lot and work to play in your half and get chances to stick the ball between the poles. They have not scored a lot of tries recently. They drive the ball a lot and we have talked a lot about that.

"Edinburgh at their best can beat anyone and they showed that last year. By luck or not, to get very close to a Heineken Cup final is a big achievement. But ultimately they lost, they are not winners and you can feel the pain within the club because they wanted to get there and win."

At 5ft 9in and just over 14st, Back fought an uphill battle to persuade coaches and international selectors that he was big enough for top-level rugby. But few players have ever punched quite so far above their weight as he did in a career that encompassed three Lions tours on top of everything he did with England (everything including a World Cup win, of course).

Yet, for all that he made his name on the international pitch, his character was forged in Leicester, where he played for 15 seasons. That period, from 1990 to 2005, delivered five Premiership titles and two Heineken Cup triumphs – they beat Stade Francais a year before they saw off Munster – and it has had a lasting impact on Back's thinking on the game.

"What I learned from that environment is about maximising your potential," he says. "At Leicester there was massive competition for places in the team – I was competing with the likes of Lewis Moody, Will Skinner and Josh Kronfield – so you had to be at your best to be in the team week in and week out.

"And I think maybe that was what was missing at Edinburgh last year because there wasn't that competition for places. To create a winning mentality you need to have competition and you need to be doing things that other people aren't doing consistently.

"You need to make sacrifices. Whether you are playing home or away, no matter the competition, you've still got to go out and give your best. And that's what I and the other coaches are trying to instil here. We treat every game as our biggest game."

He may be over-egging the pudding there, but Saturday's affair at Murrayfield will justify such hype. And tell us a lot about what Edinburgh might become.