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'He gets all the glory, doesn't he, from scoring a couple of tries from two metres out'
Joe Simmonds has highlighted brotherly love in rugby at its best, initially having a joke at the expense of his Gallagher Premiership’s all-time record-breaking try-scoring brother before going on to properly sing the praises of Sam for the stellar Exeter campaign that has resulted in him getting picked for the Lions tour to South Africa.
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Younger brothers always have a reputation for being cheeky and 24-year-old out-half Joe, the Exeter skipper, is no different checking in at 25 months younger than his No8-playing 26-year-old sibling who has lit up the Premiership with his terrific haul of 20 tries which eclipsed the previous best mark of 17.
“He gets all the glory, doesn’t he, from scoring a couple of tries from two metres out,” quipped Joe at this week’s Exeter media briefing ahead of Saturday’s final versus Harlequins at Twickenham. “No, no, credit to him. He is always in the right positions and it takes a lot of hard work to score those tries, especially 20 of them or whatever it was.
“He has been brilliant. Not just him on a personal level but for the team as well. The great thing is the team want him to score those tries, the team really wanted him to break the record. It was a credit to how hard he has worked in these last couple of years and now he has reaping the rewards with the Lions and stuff like that. Fair play to him, to score 20 tries this season is pretty crazy.”
As you can tell, the Simmonds boys like winding each other up but there no hesitation either if a sharp word needs expressing if it is for the good of the team at Exeter. “We can’t be too serious with each other. We obviously know when to say the right thing. If he is not doing something I’m not scared to tell him and the same with me, he can tell me to do something so I think that is where we kind of grow as players because we are not scared to get into each other.”
"He has put himself right back in the shop window with that performance…"
– This is how good Exeter believe fit-again Jack Nowell was last weekend on his latest return #LionsRugby #EXEvHAR #GallagherPremFinal
https://t.co/idFu4l1vuS— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 23, 2021
Looking at the Exeter evolution, Joe Simmonds wouldn’t have struck you as captaincy material a month after his 23rd birthday, but there was no fuss made when Rob Baxter told the youngster he was being given the responsibility for an away Heineken Champions Cup game at Glasgow in January 2020 and no long chat about it since either. The role has just stuck and having captained the Chiefs to double glory last October, the chance exists now to skipper the club to back-to-back league titles.
“Someone might have dropped out through the week and it was like a Wednesday afternoon, I was eating my food and he [Baxter] came up to me and said that you will be skipper this week,” said Simmonds, explaining how the captaincy role came about. “He was pretty chilled to be fair.
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“At the time I was ‘it’s brilliant’ but I went home and thought about it and I had never really captained the side other than being at school and I never thought I was capable of doing it. I was always quite a shy person, just wanted to sit back and let other people talk, but having been captain for a year in games I have definitely grown as a player.
“It has definitely helped me as a leader and as a person as well, whether it is talking off the field or whatever it is. It’s something I really loved doing now but to fair, there has been no conversation since then about captaincy at all. I’m just taking it game by game and enjoying it and they are giving me the belief that I can do it.
“My job is very easy. Although I have got the C next to my name throughout the week there are so many leaders when it is Henry Slade, Jack Yeandle, who is club captain as well, you have got Stuart Hogg, who is Scotland captain. For me, it’s very easy. I sit back and let them do some of the talking. When I feel like I need to talk I will come in and talk. I’m a captain that tries to lead by actions on the weekend and don’t talk too much.”
It's an awkward time for the potential Lions No15 Test starter after getting benched by his Premiership club#LionsRugby #EXEvHAR #GallagherPremFinal
https://t.co/g7JgNmGmgQ— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 23, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments