'Best thing I can do' for Parling is win - Cheika

Geoff Parling, right, will be the ninth head coach Leicester Tigers have had in nine years when he replaces Michael Cheika

Leicester Tigers head coach Michael Cheika says trying to win the Premiership title is the "best thing" he can do for his successor Geoff Parling.

Cheika has Tigers challenging for the league crown in what will be his only season in charge at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, with Leicester second in the table and capable of sealing a play-off spot if they beat leaders Bath on Saturday.

Parling, 41, who twice won the Premiership with Tigers in his six years with the club as a player, will leave his role as Australia assistant coach to replace Cheika in the summer.

Former Australia and Argentina head coach Cheika says he will not get distracted by talking publicly about the imminent handover, with his attention only on what can be achieved in his final four weeks in the job.

"I won't really be talking about any conversations I may have had or not had because that's about preparing the team for whatever is coming next and we are talking about preparing the team for whatever is coming now," 58-year-old Cheika told BBC Radio Leicester.

"The best thing I can do for the future of the club is to go well for the rest of this year, nothing else. Not ensuring any handover or any of this or any of that, the best thing I can do for the club is to make sure we are playing our best footy and trying to stay in this competition for as long as possible."

Leicester have won four of five Premiership games since the competition recommenced after a two-month break for the Six Nations.

It was at the start of the league hiatus that the hugely experienced Cheika - who previously guided NSW Waratahs to Super Rugby success and Leinster to European glory in the Heineken Cup in 2009 - confirmed he would not stay beyond his one-year contract with Tigers.

In Parling they will have a rookie head coach.

He has had two spells working with the Australian national team since 2020, having first moved into coaching with Melbourne Rebels where he retired as a player in 2018.

Cheika says the Tigers job will be a "huge opportunity" for the the former England lock, who also featured for the British and Irish Lions in 2013.

In announcing the appointment of Parling, who will be the ninth head coach to lead Leicester in nine years, Tigers repeatedly said he takes the helm on a long-term deal.

When asked about how important it would be for Tigers to find stability in the role, Cheika replied: "I think yes, I suppose. But who knows?"

The Australian continued by saying he feels he has a part to play in ensuring there are foundations to build on.

"I get all that, the stability and all that business," he said.

"But if you just focus on what you are doing now, then that will happen by nature. I can do that by trying to bring my best quality to training every day and help start that stability by being well prepared for training and having good quality training.

"If I can help try to create that consistency on a day-to-day basis now, I have no doubt the playing roster that is here now will continue that into the future."