MUCH is made of the number of ex-Bulls making their way in coaching, and rightly so, but Mike Forshaw's story is one of the more intriguing.

For a start, he is working not in league but in rugby union and has been instrumental in the enigmatic Danny Cipriani returning to the England fold.

Forshaw serves as defence coach at Sale Sharks and has forged an impressive reputation, which is no surprise after his outstanding playing career which saw him nicknamed 'The Ultimate Professional'.

The former loose forward retired from playing in 2004 and worked as strength and conditioning coach at Warrington and Wigan before becoming defence coach at Connacht in Ireland in 2010.

"I was at Warrington and then Brian Noble brought me to Wigan, where I also worked under Michael Maguire," said 45-year-old Forshaw.

"But I had always been a fan of rugby union, I played for Saracens briefly in 1996, and was looking for an opportunity to work in the sport and specifically as a coach.

"Eric Elwood was taking over as director of rugby at Connacht and offered me a position as the defence coach, so I went to work with the IRFU for three-and-a-half years in Galway.

"I thought we did reasonably well and, when the opportunity came up at Sale, I was looking to get back into the UK and predominantly in the Premiership.

"The best fit was Sale and it just so happened they'd had a bit of a tough year that season.

"They probably needed some fresh enthusiasm, especially in some aspects of their defensive programme."

Forshaw has made the Sharks a tougher nut to crack – and has toughened Cipriani up too.

The fly-half's excellent form in the past 18 months has culminated in a new two-year deal and a return to the England squad during the RBS Six Nations.

"Danny had been criticised for his defence and what I said to him was that in his position he may only have to make four tackles, so he has to make sure he nails them," said Forshaw.

"I also think your number tens have got to lead your defence and line-speed.

"But Danny is taking more of that responsibility on board in games and in training, not only with his tackling but his organisational skills too.

"It's always nice to have players in the England set-up but that's down to Danny. His opportunity has come and at the moment he is taking it.

"Danny will know as much as anybody that you've got to keep progressing and getting better at this level because it's a World Cup year and you have to play well week in and week out.

"At the moment with England, he is in there batting, as they say, but ultimately it's Stuart Lancaster's call whether he plays."

Forshaw is among an impressive number of Bradford alumni enjoying success in the coaching ranks.

"I spoke to Matthew Elliott a year or two ago and he actually mentioned about the number of guys now in coaching who played under Brian Smith, Matty and then Brian Noble," he said.

"There's Steve McNamara, Brian McDermott, Paul Anderson, Scott Naylor, Paul Deacon, Jimmy Lowes, Lee Radford and myself.

"It probably makes them proud as coaches who headed up the system and I think that group of players came through at a really important time.

"We all played before the game went full-time and were probably privileged to become full-time professionals.

"We had a lot of senior players such as Bernard Dwyer and I always think about when England's rugby union side won the World Cup in 2003 with experienced players.

"The Bulls had a fulcrum of players with people like Jimmy, who had been at Leeds, and when the opportunity came, we just seized it.

"People still talk about that Bradford team now, from 1997 up to 2005, and they were great times.

"I had been at Wigan in the late eighties and early nineties when they had some world-class players. But that Bradford team was another level up."

Forshaw's time at Odsal – from 1997 to 2003 – came right at the heart of the Bulls' golden era.

He recalled: "It was just the whole Bradford phenomenon that grew there from 1997. We just drilled through teams at times and had some really good pros.

"But the likes of Paul Deacon and Jimmy were really good at executing a game-plan. Deacs was an expert at that and Jimmy had a fantastic football brain.

"They were great times with great people behind the scenes like Debbie Charlton.

"It's so sad what has happened because Debbie was a great help for people like me and Stuart Spruce, who was another world-class player and also coached at Widnes for a short time.

"When you look at our backline, we had Spruce, Tevita Vaikona, Lesley Vainikola and Michael Withers – there weren't four better players anywhere.

"I remember when the 40-20 rule came in that Deacs was bottom of the stats.

"There was a bit of a conversation about it but because of the likes of Vainikolo, Spruce and others, he never got the opportunity to kick out of his 40 because our ball carriers were so good and got over the 40."

Forshaw, a Wiganer, is now happy and settled at Sale but he is not thinking about becoming a head coach just yet.

He said: "I'm only 45 and I don't want to rush things too much – but I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. We've got a very talented young side here at Sale."