Mike Pope says he can see himself going into coaching one day - as long as he can take the stress of it.
The Chapel Gate side travel to the part of the world which first ignited his coaching passion - Exmouth in Devon.
With unbeaten South West Premier leaders Bournemouth visiting fourth placed Exmouth, Pope says his view of coaching changed since being at Exeter Chiefs.
Pope said: “Yes I think I would like to go into the coaching side of it.
“I did not think I would at first - because when I was playing full-time at Exeter, I did not think I would, and I think I would question what level I would like to coach at because the idea of coaching professionally is as stressful - if not more - than a player.
“It tended to be longer hours and a lot more admin and you have still got to travel and my wife gave up seven years to let me live out my dream as a professional rugby player so I did not really want to turn around to her and say ‘oh by the way I am now going to coach full-time as well.’”
Pope now works at Bournemouth Collegiate School as Head Of Rugby, and says he could never get bored of the sport.
Director Of Rugby Will Croker and head coach Jon Sanchez have let Pope take part in some coaching sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
Pope says that experience has been invaluable to him and he is now making a case for the defence for them.
Pope added: “Last year, a lot of the games were quite high-scoring games and it just so happened Bournemouth were lucky enough to just outscore the opposition, and it was kind of like that whereas over the last few weeks we have only conceded four tries in five games - or something like that.
“So I was not happy with the defence and I just said to them ‘can I have a 25-minute block at training with the boys at training on Thursday to go over a few things?’
"So they are pretty open and welcoming for me to jump in now and again which is good but I suppose the next step for me is full-time coaching.”