Australia coach Geoff Parling: I missed my child's birth to play for Lions, that's how much it means
Former second row Eales, who captained the Wallabies to the 2001 series victory, gave the green and gold perspective; Parling, now Australia's assistant coach and soon-to-be Leicester Tigers head coach, provided the view from the other side of the ledger as the first man to play for and coach against the Lions.
Parling, a former Newcastle, Leicester and Exeter second row, started in two of the Lions' Test series against Australia in 2013, although his memories are somewhat blurry. What he does recall is his exquisite tap tackle on Jesse Mogg in the third test – 'My long arms came in useful for once' – and something entirely unconnected to rugby.
@lionsofficial THAT TAP TACKLE 😰 #Rugby #LionsRugby ♬ SIGMA X MEN - AMAAN__HERE
'The biggest thing for me was my daughter was born back in the UK and she was healthy,' Parling said. 'So the biggest thing that stands out for me wasn't even on the rugby field. That might sound crazy because it's a big tour, but going back and meeting your daughter when she's two and a half weeks old, it's pretty special. Changing her nappy when all the blokes are on the p--- back in Sydney celebrating, in a way was pretty special.'
While Parling was happy to share his experience, he is keen to emphasise that his perspectives are of limited and diminishing value as we approach the first Test at the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday. 'The fact you have a once-in-12-year opportunity probably makes it even bigger,' Parling said. 'They're aware it's pretty special. They definitely know it. I don't think I have to big it up as anything else. I've just got to make sure what I give to them is valuable. So what I am probably giving in terms of that is probably less than you think. As we're getting closer to the Tests, it's probably getting less and less.'
The point is that Parling wants to avoid putting the Lions on any sort of pedestal. Australia are underdogs going into the series but that was much the same when they went to Twickenham last autumn only for the Wallabies to beat England 42-37. They kept the receipts of every prediction of the hammering they were supposed to receive against Steve Borthwick's side and it is clear the Wallabies will be similarly fired up going into a series in which the Lions are openly targeting a 3-0 whitewash.
'Our mentality is: let's throw ourselves at them,' Parling said. 'We're not here to sit back and pay homage to the Lions. Let's throw ourselves at them, why wouldn't we? We don't want to die wanting – whilst we do the basics really, really well.'
While he has a reputation for being cerebral, particularly when it comes to line-out plays, Parling's coaching philosophy is all about simplicity, which is a lesson he learned from Andy Farrell, then the Lions defence coach, on the 2013 tour. 'He really appealed to my biases, one of my favourite coaches when I was a player,' Parling said. 'He was very simple, great orator, and just a good bloke. But I thought, yeah, just very simple in his delivery, and just went after a few things, and went hard at those.
'He's very aligned to how I believe the best form of defending is. And I don't think coaching… I think sometimes we make it too complicated. And he didn't make it too complicated. He made it simple with a few key points and just chased them.
'If we spoke about anything [to the players] – and again it's going to sound really boring, I'm not going to give you an exciting answer here – it's about doing the basics really, really well. I think the bigger the game you get, the more it's about doing the basics really, really well. By basics I mean: how you tackle, how you carry, how you clean, how sharp your passing is, how accurate your kicking game is. Doesn't sound sexy does it?'
Nor – with the greatest respect – does swapping a lifestyle in Melbourne, where the Parlings live 1km from the beach, for Leicester. 'I wouldn't leave here for many opportunities. Leicester was one of those I would do,' Parling said.
May Rose, the daughter who was born while he was on the 2013 Lions tour, is now 12 and will return to the UK with an 'Aussie twang', although the 41-year-old now admits he feels somewhat guilty for missing her birth.
'Do you know what? I admitted this to my wife and she said 'I'm glad you finally said it [being selfish]',' Parling said. 'In some ways with my family I was quite a selfish player sometimes and I was lucky, she was very, very, very supportive and still is very supportive. But rugby really, really meant a lot to me and my family means a lot to me. It really, really does. It was a difficult decision but I was probably straight away: I want to go. Thankfully everything was good back there. Players sometimes are a little bit selfish for that respect and I guess looking back I was.'
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