100-cap Rob Simmons the latest high profile Wallaby to sign for London Irish
London Irish have bolstered their Gallagher Premiership squad with another high profile Wallaby, convincing 100-cap Rob Simmons to join an expanding contingent of Australians at the club. While Sale Sharks have concentrated on bringing in South African power to the Premiership, the Exiles have opted for experienced Wallaby talent.
RugbyPass understands that Simmons is due to arrive in October, following fellow lock Adam Coleman (38 caps), prop Sekope Kepu (110 caps), scrum-half Nick Phipps (72 caps) and centre Curtis Rona (3 caps) to the club which is temporarily based at the Twickenham Stoop while the Brentford Community Stadium is completed.
The 6ft 7in lock has represented Australia in 100 Test matches since making his debut in 2010, bringing up his century of caps against Georgia at last year’s World Cup in Japan. It was his third World Cup having previously featured at the 2011 and 2015 tournaments.
Simmons started his career playing in the Australian Rugby Championship for East Coast Aces, with his Super Rugby debut for Reds coming in 2008.
With over 100 Super Rugby appearances, the 31-year-old moved to Waratahs in 2018. At the time he acknowledged interest from overseas clubs and knew that with more than 60 caps he would still be considered for Wallaby selection if he moved overseas.
He said: “The Wallabies have been a big part of my life for nearly a decade now and I’m hugely proud whenever I get the chance to wear the Wallaby jersey.
“I obviously knew that I had the option to still play for Australia and be based overseas and I had interest from a few clubs, but that just wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
The Irish are also bringing full-back Tom Homer back from Bath, the club he joined from the Exiles in 2015. Homer was a regular for England at U18 and U20 levels and was leading scorer in the Junior World Championships with 118 points. He will be linking up with the Exiles squad shortly.
A truly incredible #OrdinaryRig entry from @Dursleyrugby ?
Members of the rugby club climbed Mount Snowdon to commemorate their club stalwart Ross Reeves ?
Climbing over 1000m in nothing but Budgy Smugglers!
Incredible! @BudgySmuggler pic.twitter.com/9ocAAcnt00
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 28, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments