LONG READ ‘It's a pressurised job. International rugby has higher scrutiny but club coaching is relentless’

The Prem prides itself as a league on its capacity for surprise. And what could be more surprising than the head coach of its in-form team shoving the broadcasters’ main anchor and evicting him from the playing surface with some choice language live on air?

The Geoff Parling-Craig Doyle bust-up at Villa Park – if a one-way explosion can be described thus – provided an unexpected viewing highlight from the weekend’s round of games.

TNT’s tacit assumption that they could simply go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted was spectacularly rebuffed by the Leicester head coach with a bark of: “It’s not f***ing on” and a shove for Doyle.

“Geoff not happy about that,” observed Doyle with delicious understatement as he scuttled off the grass with an apology to the viewers for the swearing from park keeper Parling.

It is a good job it wasn’t a football broadcast. Had Doyle made the most of the contact, flung himself to the ground and writhed around for a while all hell would have broken loose.

Liam MacDevitt, making his Prem debut with TNT at Villa Park, must have wondered what on earth he had walked into.

Depending on your point of view an intrusive TV host received a deserved bloody nose for stupid stunt to introduce a new presenter during an important pre-match warm-up.

Or a grumpy rugby coach went totally over the top railing against a harmless goal kick, in the process biting the hand that feeds him.

Many Leicester fans are likely to have enjoyed Parling’s aggressive response. Having grown used to Richard Cockerill as the club’s front man for so long, they like a bit of devil in their head coach.

Rugby union knows it has to play ball with the broadcasters. Opening up in an attempt to attract new fans is the way of the world. That isn’t always the natural instinct for a head coach.

The majority of them would have been more annoyed that the club issued a statement the next day apologising with some words from the head coach acknowledging he had overstepped the mark than by the incident itself.

Plenty of Tigers fans even might privately wince, however, at Parling’s feeble explanation post-match that he wanted to protect his players from the injury risk of a single flying ball.

Player safety and all that but these are professional rugby players who run into brick walls for a living. Come on Geoff.

On Saturday evening, Parling and Doyle spoke on the phone. As Doyle tells it, they laughed off the incident. Hatchet buried, they move on. That is as it should be. They will have to work together again soon enough.

Rugby union knows it has to play ball with the broadcasters. Opening up in an attempt to attract new fans is the way of the world.

That isn’t always the natural instinct for a head coach. Attempting to prioritise the team does not always square with the demands of broadcasters.

Dressing room cameras, in-game coaching interviews and player chats during the warm-up have all been signed off but Saturday’s knockabout nonsense was self-evidently a step too far for Parling.

What the incident also unintentionally conveyed was the pressure Parling is under as the Leicester Tigers head coach. For a normally self-contained individual, the outburst was out of character.

Leicester are going exceptionally well under Parling having won their last nine games in all competitions.

Following in the footsteps of Michael Cheika at Mattioli Woods Welford Road with a boatload of experience having departed over the summer following the departures of Julian Montoya and Handre Pollard and the retirements of Dan Cole and Ben Youngs, looked a poisoned chalice of a job, but he has made a terrific start.

Having evolved as the season has gone on, the purring Tigers already have the Prem Cup in the bag, are in third place in the league, well positioned to qualify for the play-offs and are still in the Champions Cup. Until they go to Bordeaux on Sunday at least.

It’s probably an 80 or 90-hour working week but it’s not just that, it’s when you’re not coaching you are still thinking about it.

So what is there to get all worked up about?

While results help with the stress, they do not eliminate all of it. A head coach’s job is hard.

This is Parling’s first head coach’s role and the jump from being an assistant, where there is always a shield, to the exposure of the No 1 role where the buck stops, is considerable. The responsibility can weigh heavily.

Speaking to one head coach with wide-ranging top-level experience this week, he spelled out just what is involved.

“It’s a pressurised job and you need to understand how you personally manage pressure before you choose to go into it as a young coach because forces come at you from all sides,” he said.

“It’s probably an 80 or 90-hour working week but it’s not just that, it’s when you’re not coaching you are still thinking about it.

“In some respects club coaching takes a greater toll than international coaching. International rugby has higher scrutiny but coaching at club level is relentless.

“You need to find ways to get away to decompress – walking the dog, going to the cinema, doing exercise – it’s important to look after your mental health.”

The in-box is constantly full to overflowing.

After the match on Saturday, Parling will have had to speak to his team, take fitness bulletins from medical staff and deal with the media.

There would be clips to send to players from the Gloucester game and a review of it to map out but almost immediately he would have been starting to turn his attention to this weekend’s game in France, setting a theme, framing a plan.

There would be opposition to study and discussions with his staff over how training needed to be shaped and which areas to prioritise.

It can be lonely. You need to be close enough so that the players want to play for you but not too close that you can’t have difficult conversations.

There would have been selection to get right and the conversations around that – for those in and those out. Parling will have been dealing with players who want more game time, replacements who want to start, squad men who want more of a taste of match-day.

There would have been a press conference to front up – with the inevitable questions about the Doyle goings-on – and the board to liaise with. Managing up can be as important a part of the job as managing down, especially at a club the size of Leicester where expectations come with the territory.

Yet for all the whirlwind of interactions, it can be an isolating position. The relationships a head coach makes are, by their nature, transactional.

“It can be lonely,” said the coach. “You need to be close enough so that the players want to play for you but not too close that you can’t have difficult conversations. That’s why having an outside mentor is important for a head coach.”

Beyond the here and now there is the medium term to consider – upcoming games beyond this weekend – and the long term – signing off on recruitment and retention. There are even pre-season friendlies to sort for next season around now.

So there is a lot going on for a head coach – an awful lot.

“There’s sometimes an hour on a Thursday when you can relax but that’s about it,” the coach reflected.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing showing your players you care and that you are prepared to support them.

With all that in mind, it is a surprise that more No 1s in rugby don’t blow their tops from time to time.

“You have to try to stay calm and collected and in control of your emotions,” said the coach.

“Your players need to know when you’re happy and when you’re not but generally they like stability.

“In saying that, I don’t think it’s a bad thing showing your players you care and that you are prepared to support them.”

There were better ways for Parling to do so, as he will no doubt have reflected since, but with the clip having gone viral he can at least console himself in the knowledge that he has unwittingly brought millions of new eyeballs to the game.