Parling joins the ambitious exiles

THERE is no bigger home bird than me. I still live in the village in which I was born and home is very much where my heart is. But I managed to spend three years in Japan at the end of my playing career and I even took the family over there for a year. That’s why I always admire players and coaches who are prepared to leave the comfort of their own home and environment and test themselves in a foreign land. My old Ospreys teammate and coach Steve Tandy did it when he went to Australia and then New Zealand to coach before coming back to the UK to take over as the Scottish defence coach. My old Wales wing partner Mark Jones is currently in New Zealand. It proves what a crazy world we sometimes find ourselves in when Mark couldn’t get a job of any stature in Wales, yet he was taken on by the best club side in the world in the Crusaders. It’s a long way from Brecon to Christchurch, but he was prepared to back his talent and take his family to the other side of the world to try to enhance his reputation and improve his skills. Now I see another old Lions team-mate, Geoff Parling, above, has been made forwards coach with Australia. He spent three years at the Melbourne Rebels and has been given the chance to take the next step up the coaching ladder. Good on him! He was always a hard worker and someone for whom attention to detail was everything. It promises to be an interesting battle when he prepares the Aussies forwards to take on his old team, England.