We're not here to pay homage': the Lion turned Wallaby plotting Australia victory

No room for sentiment as hosts' English coach bids to leave country on a high before his move to Leicester

- Robert Kitson

Geoff Parling is a perfect example of just how far sport can propel you in life. Growing up in Stockton-on-Tees he was a goalkeeper who did not start throwing a rugby ball around until the age of 12. Back then the chances of him coaching Australia in a British & Irish Lions series were about the same as seeing a snoozing koala up a gum tree in Hartlepool.

Yet here he is now in a Wallaby tracksuit, preparing to complete the unique double of playing a Test for the Lions and then also coaching against them at the same exalted level. It is a parallel universe to 2013 when Parling was part of the triumphant Lions side in the final Test in Sydney. That night it was his crucial tackle on Jesse Mogg - "My long arms came in useful for once" - which snuffed out any chance of a home fightback. On Saturday, the aim is to do the precise opposite and restore a golden glow to Australian rugby.

And just as the Sydney Harbour Bridge was constructed by a British firm from Cleveland in the north-east, so Parling's job is to engineer something just as striking. The Wallabies' lineout has improved steadily under his tutelage and, in harness with head coach Joe Schmidt, the chances are that Australia will be tactically savvy and highly motivated. "Our mentality is: let's throw ourselves at them," warns the former England lock forward. "We're not here to sit back and pay homage to the Lions, why wouldn't we? We don't want to die wanting."