London Scottish Forwards & Defence coach departs

More time with his family, too many commitments on his time so something had to give, day-to-day responsibilities at Trinity school too onerous - whatever the reason, the departure of Alex Codling from London Scottish cannot be good news in the short-term for the Exiles. Codling joined Scottish from Barking, who had just been pipped by Scottish in the promotion race from ND1 to the Championship, at the start of last year, bringing several of the renowned Barking pack along with him - however, by and large it was an unhappy first season at this level for Scottish, only narrowly avoiding relegation on the last day of the season. Head Coach Simon Amor is fairly new to his job and responsibilities himself, and one can't help wonder whether there's been a clash of views over direction between the two.

From the offy site:

London Scottish Announce Departure of Forwards & Defence Coach Alex Codling

By Luke Wakefield

London Scottish are today announcing the departure of Forwards & Defence Coach Alex Codling. As well as previously holding the Head Coach role at Ebbw Vale RFC, Codling was Head Coach at Barking before joining London Scottish in May 2011.

As well as his role at London Scottish, Codling is also Director of Sport at Trinity School in Croydon. With the increased demands upon the coaching set up with the onset of the club's second season of Championship rugby, as well as his day-to-day responsibilities at Trinity School Codling has decided to focus on his commitments at Trinity School.

Codling: "This was not an easy decision to make however after much deliberation I have decided to step away from my commitments at London Scottish. It has been a pleasure to have worked with this squad and to see their development and I look forward to witnessing a bright future for London Scottish."

Director of Rugby Simon Amor: "Alex has brought so much to London Scottish since his arrival at the start of last season playing a critical, leading role in our first year in the Championship. His technical coaching and the passion with which he fulfilled his role at London Scottish was fantastic and while we are disappointed to lose him we fully understand and respect his decision".

London Scottish CEO Tony Copsey is disappointed to see the departure of a much respected and talented coach.

Copsey: "Obviously nobody at London Scottish wanted to see Alex go, he is a well respected member of our coaching staff and a figure head that the players very much admire. However, we fully understand, respect and support his decision. I would like to thank him for all of his hard work with Simon Amor and the rest of the coaching staff to get us in the position where we are today. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours and he is always welcome at The Athletic Ground."

How this will affect the players ahead of the visit of Newcastle Falcons to the Richmond Athletic Ground remains to be seen, altho they will surely be keen to build on their first game victory over Rotherham, in a nail-biting match that a tougher-looking squad would have lost by less than a score last season.

Shame we cant see the game mate...but ill be keeping up to date. Should be a good game.