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The fallout at Exeter three days on from that bizarre Joe Simmonds conversion gaffe
Exeter boss Rob Baxter has drawn a line under the red-faced finish suffered by Joe Simmonds in last weekend’s Gallagher Premiership defeat. With Chiefs down by a point, Northampton players charged down a conversion attempt to win the game in a bizarre fashion.
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There were initial arguments that what Saints did was illegal but they were proven to be within their rights to race from the try line and kick the ball away off the tee as Simmonds had taken a slight step after he initially set himself to take the kick.
Once a player originally sets himself, the opposition can run forward when he next moves and this is what Northampton did after seeing Simmonds take a slight step and stop after he had already composed himself for the kick.
The mishap consigned defending champions Exeter to their third Premiership defeat in their last six outings but Baxter avoided criticising his young out-half when he revisited the incident on Tuesday three days after it took place. “He [Simmonds] has taken it okay,” reported Baxter when asked if the fall-out from how Exeter lost their latest match had affected his player given it has been much-talked-about and debated online since it happened.
“The only advice I gave him on Saturday – and I don’t think it works that much in the modern age – I said, ‘Just give yourself a 48-hour break off social media, don’t go thinking you have got to work out what everyone is saying about it because everyone will have something different to say’. But it is very difficult for young guys now to be like that.
100 per cent correct. https://t.co/vgowIRSm41
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 21, 2021
“He has been fine in training, he was on his toes. The one thing that he knows is we have no problems about it. It was a genuine mistake. When you actually stop and think about it it’s never a right time for someone to learn something. He has done it, it’s not a big deal but he knows why he did it.
“He felt he had not quite set himself initially in the right place and then made a small adjustment and it’s something he will make sure he will not do again. It’s not that big a deal. It would have been an incredible kick if he had got it over.
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“All the mistakes we made in that game, the smallest of the mistakes we made was Joe at the end. We make mistakes all the way through the game. At the end of the day, we won pretty much every stat apart from the scoreboard. In those conditions to have control of possession and territory like we did should win you the game.
“The only thing he will change in his kicking style is making sure he doesn’t do an adjustment before he kicks. He has learned that lesson. It’s not something he does. It was a little bit like the whole game wrapped up in one thing, wasn’t it? There were quite a few things happening in the game that wasn’t quite us and they got wrapped up in that final moment,” continued Baxter, adding the incident won’t leave Simmonds scarred long-term.
“If you stop and look at Joe’s career with us to date, how would you describe it? You would describe Joe’s career as being on an upward curve and that is relatively unusual for a young ten. Normally, with young players, you have got to be prepared to take a little bit of pain. We have taken relatively little pain with him.
“I don’t see this as being a big deal and his history to date says he takes wins and losses in his stride and he continually looks to improve and drive this team. There is no reason for me to have any worries about him.”
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Exeter claim they are unsure of player release rules if Scotland match with France is delayed a week#SixNations #PremRugby
https://t.co/Sd80Gj26XF— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 23, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
It will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments