'Sam will be unlikely because he is going to be having an op'
Sam Simmonds has been described by his Exeter boss Rob Baxter as unlikely to tour this summer with England as he is due to have an operation to alleviate the pain he has with a niggly hip. The 27-year-old has played a part in the last seven England matches, ending a period out of favour under Eddie Jones that stretched back to his previous appearances in March 2018.
Record-breaking try-scoring exploits last season for Exeter catapulted Simmonds into the Lions squad that toured South Africa last year ahead of his England recall but he has been sidelined since missing his club’s mid-April Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 exit to Munster in Limerick.
That evening at Thomond Park, Exeter coach Baxter said: “It’s a hip/groin, a combination of a few things. He is sore, he is struggling to train really and that is the problem. We can get him on the field but he is very limited in training which fitness-wise and performance-wise, he is kind of on that downward spiral until we can sort this issue out.
“We are investigating that now, he will see the specialist this week but with all the scans and things, we are hopeful we will see him before the end of the season.”
Those hopes have evaporated as far as Exeter are concerned as they have just two Gallagher Premiership games remaining and face their season ending on June 4 without reaching the playoffs. England, meanwhile, are not due to head to Australia until after their June 19 match versus the Barbarians at Twickenham.
Baxter didn’t 100 per cent rule Simmonds out from England tour selection, but he was keen to play up the positives for his player if he didn’t travel to Australia. “Sam will be unlikely (to tour) because he is going to be having an op,” explained the Exeter director of rugby at his media briefing ahead of Friday’s league trip to Bristol.
“There are two ways of looking at it. What it will allow him to do is get this niggly hip injury that has been causing him pain – the restrictive thing has been the pain not so much the function – and if he gets this sorted now that means he will have a good recovery time and a good pre-season and it’s a huge year for anybody who has got international ambitions with next year being World Cup year.
“It will really help him get to the level when you talk about from a club perspective level, a couple of years ago he was banging tries in from everywhere. He will want to follow that through because that is what led to his international and his Lions recognition. No one thing is ever a bad or good thing, you just have to drive it in a more positive direction.”
Baxter was speaking on a day when the 36-man squad for next week’s mini-England training camp was revealed to contain not a single Exeter player. Ten clubs were represented but with injuries to Simmonds, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jack Nowell and Jonny Hill hitting the Chiefs hard and Henry Slade rested, Exeter, Gloucester and Worcester didn’t get a Test squad look-in with Jones this time.
“Luke Cowan-Dickie has got a good chance of kind of being ready for the end stage of the season so in all possibility could still tour,” reckoned Baxter. “As far as we are looking at it they [Nowell and Hill] will be with England for some rehab and for someone to have a look at them early next week.
“They are progressing pretty well at the moment. If that progression continues there is no reason why (not). The tour is still a little way away. The last round of the Premiership isn’t until a couple of weeks and then you have got semi-final and final before the tour heads off. It’s still over a month before the tour heads off, so they have still got a decent amount of rehab time before those decisions need to be made.”
Cowan-Dickie needed an operation following his knee injury playing for England against Wales in late February, Nowell also required surgery on a broken arm suffered in the mid-March Test in France while Hill has been unavailable since picking up a high ankle injury with Exeter in January.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood 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.
19 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.
19 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?
7 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.
7 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 🤐
19 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….
19 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!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 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 comments