A former NEC Harlequins star hopes he can add a few more names to the club's production line of talented youngsters when he returns to Croydon in May.

Former Stoop second-rower Alex Codling will quit Welsh Premiership leaders Ebbw Vale at the end of the season to take over as director of sport at his alma mater, Trinity School.

The current generation of stars making their mark in the Guinness Premiership include academy graduates Jordan Turner-Hall, Mike Brown, Adrian Jarvis and former Hampton School student Seb Jewell.

And 33-year-old Codling, who spent three years with Quins and won an England cap against Argentina in 2002, is hoping his connections with the Twickenham club could see a new crop of Trinity old boys follow in his footsteps.

"Five of my first team at Ebbw Vale are just getting age group international honours with Wales, which is great," he said.

"It gives you a real sense of satisfaction to see players develop under your guidance and it is certainly something that attracted me to the job.

"I have a good contacts with the Quins academy set-up through Tony Diprose and a relationship with them is something I will be looking at."

Codling left Quins in 2003 to join Saracens before bringing his playing career to a close two years later after a brief spell with Northampton Saints and French side Montpellier.

He took over in south Wales in December 2005 with Vale at the foot of the table, and hopes to leave the club after clinching the Premiership title 18 months later.

Despite being an instant success in coaching, Codling, who was forced to retire prematurely through injury, wishes he was still out on the pitch.

"There is no substitute for playing," he said.

"I lived and breathed the game through my career and, thankfully, I am still involved.

"I had three fantastic seasons at Quins and played for England, so I have some great memories of my time there."

The Hertfordshire-based coach, the youngest in the Welsh Premiership, has clocked up 1,800 miles-a-week in his Ebbw Vale role and will switch to Croydon in May.

The lure of working closer to home and at his old stomping ground, while shaping the direction of sport - not just rugby - in the area proved too hard to resist.

"Sport has an important role to play in society," he said.

"If youngsters get turned off it at a young age you can lose them for life.

"There is an opportunity here to give the kids at Trinity the same chances I had, but we must strike the right balance between sport and education.

"The timing of my career meant I got a degree before rugby turned professional.

"Players are getting younger and there is less chance for them to complete their education.

"We must give them the skills to fall back on, should it not work out."