Former England international's bold claim about how playing Super Rugby earlier 'would have improved me'
Former England and British and Irish Lions international Geoff Parling believes playing Super Rugby at an earlier stage in his career would have enhanced his game.
The 36-year-old, who played 32 tests for England between 2012 and 2015 and played a further three internationals for the Lions during their 2013 tour of Australia, bucked the trend of players moving north to end their playing careers in Europe and Japan by opting to play for the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby.
Parling’s shift from the Exeter Chiefs to the Rebels ahead of the 2018 campaign proved to be an eye-opener for the former lock, who is now on the Melbourne side’s coaching staff as an assistant to head coach Dave Wessels.
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He went on to make 11 appearances for the Rebels before hanging up his boots last year following a brief stint in Japan with the Munakata Sanix Blues, and wrote about his experience in the southern hemisphere’s premier club competition in a recent column for Rugby World magazine.
“There are many factors involved in moving abroad. No one size fits all,” Parling said.
“Some lads will improve from staying in a team at home. Super Rugby is definitely different and I think experiencing it for a season earlier in my career would have improved me.”
However, he added that a stint in Super Rugby during the opening stages of his career would have needed to occur when he was in his early 20s, but he was unsure if he would have been good enough to get such an opportunity at that point.
“I wouldn’t have even considered it as a younger player because I always had the aim of playing for England. It also depends on the club and the deal – Joe Marchant has joined the Auckland Blues in a good deal and when he’s done that he will go back to Harlequins,” Parling said.
The @sunwolves have once again dipped into the offshore player market for their final season in @SuperRugby, but their newest recruit comes from esteemed rugby heritage.https://t.co/Sp2OWzBChu
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 7, 2020
For experienced players, Parling suggested that a shift south would be dependent on what the person in question wanted to get out of the experience, as Super Rugby clubs don’t have the financial might to fund player wages as healthily as European and Japanese clubs can.
“If you’re looking at longer term and thinking about your whole rugby career, playing abroad could be good for you,” he said.
“If I had gone to Super Rugby earlier, I would have seen the game in a different way. You can tell just from watching it that it’s looser, quicker. The way the majority of Super Rugby teams view attack is different to the UK.
“We looked at a stat recently that said even if you concede three tries in a game, you’ve still got a 52-54 percent chance of winning the game. After conceding three tries! I don’t think that would be the same in the English Premiership,” he said.
“But the skill-set and pace in attack would certainly develop European players.”
Former @AllBlacks star @juliansavea7 has lifted the lid on what competition he prefers out of @SuperRugby and the @top14rugby.https://t.co/cKkYLBcWRi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2020
Opportunities have arisen in recent seasons for players of all ages from Britain to play professionally in the southern hemisphere.
English stars Danny Cipriani and James Haskell played for the Rebels and Highlanders in the early stages of the last decade, and Scotland international Huw Jones won his first test cap after impressing for the Stormers in 2016.
The same can be said of England playmaker Piers Francis, who played two seasons for the Blues, while uncapped Irish prop Oliver Jager has featured prominently for the Crusaders throughout their hat-trick of title successes since debuting for them in 2017.
“What I have learnt here is how to see things differently, such as statistical analysis and how teams look at each other,” Parling wrote.
“We’ve got massive amounts of team travel that you don’t have to deal with in the UK, so factors like jet lag and different squad sizes need to be considered.
“Playing against Australian teams is different to facing Kiwi teams and that is very different from facing South African teams. Being here has really opened my eyes.”
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments