Sale statement: Simon Hammersley to retire from rugby aged 29
Sale full-back Simon Hammersley has announced that he will retire from playing at the age of 29 and pursue a career away from rugby following the expiry next month of his three-year contract at the Manchester club. Hammersley made 16 appearances in the 2021/22 campaign, starting on a dozen occasions, but he has decided to call it quits rather than seek to play on.
A Sale statement read: “The Sharks can confirm that full-back Simon Hammersley will leave the club and retire from rugby at the end of the current season to pursue a career outside the sport. The 29-year-old fans’ favourite, who joined the club from Newcastle Falcons ahead of the 2019/20 season, has played 59 times for Sharks, including 16 games this season.
“Originally from Hull, Simon studied at Durham University with Sharks teammate Josh Beaumont and started his professional rugby career with the Falcons in 2013. He made his Premiership debut in 2014 at just 21 and his form in his first two years of first-team rugby was rewarded with a call up to the England Saxons squad to tour South Africa in 2016.
“He joined Sharks on a three-year deal at the end of the 2019 season after Newcastle’s relegation to the Championship, and his first year at the AJ Bell was his most successful to date as he made more metres (1,813) than any other player, and beat 68 defenders with 24 line breaks, better than any full-back in the Premiership.
“Everyone at Sale Sharks would like to thank Simon for his huge contribution to the club over the past three years and we wish him all the very best for the future.”
'I didn’t have any choice, I wasn’t an academy player'@SaleSharksRugby fullback @Simon_Hammers is enjoying life under Alex Sanderson, having come to rugby via an alternative route.
Just don't ask him to bench press – writes @heagneyl ??? #SARvSAL https://t.co/8ZkkmqGU8r
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 28, 2021
It was last November, in an interview with RugbyPass, when Hammersley recalled his decision in 2019 to switch from Newcastle to Sale. “It was difficult,” he said. “My wife and I were really settled up there and they had given me my shot at rugby, but I always had this relegation clause. It was my mum, who isn’t into sport but comes to watch quite a bit, who said, ‘Your career can be very short, would you rather be playing Premiership or Championship rugby?’ She put it in that kind of simplistic terms and I thought, ‘Yeah, you don’t know how long your career can be’.
“Sale were interested and they had made a lot of signings. Steve Diamond and Jono Ross said they were trying to push on as a club and I thought it would be really exciting. We were enjoying Newcastle but it is sometimes nice to be pushed out of your comfort zone and this (offer) was forcing us to do that, moving professionally away from where you live and making friends elsewhere.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Job done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to commentsAlex Sanderson fantastic coach and person .So pleased he has signed another contract great days ahead for Sale under his leadership.
1 Go to commentsAndy Goode cant kick to 12
162 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
76 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
11 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
11 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
33 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
11 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
33 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
162 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
76 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
33 Go to comments