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'Whether his focus is to prove people right or wrong, whatever his driver is it's working very well for him'

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Exeter have paid tribute to Sam Simmonds, the unwanted England back row who has been lighting up the Gallagher Premiership scoring charts this season with a flurry of tries following his latest snub by Test boss Eddie Jones. Simmonds has scored nine tries in his eight league outings this term with defending champions Exeter, four more than next-best Paolo Odogwu of Wasps and Harlequins’ Alex Dombrandt.

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So prolific is his scoring, his 45 points had him listed in seventh spot in the league’s most points category, which is supposed to be dominated by place-kickers, going into this weekend’s round nine games.

In making 309 metres from his 94 carries, the Premiership’s December player of the month has beaten 17 defenders and made eight clean breaks while his tackle completion is running at 95 per cent, 74 tackles made and just the four missed. 

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RugbyPass Offload reflects on last week’s Calcutta Cup match between England and Scotland

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RugbyPass Offload reflects on last week’s Calcutta Cup match between England and Scotland

This rich vein of form, though, hasn’t been rewarded by the sniff of a look-in with England as the last of his seven caps continues to be the March 2018 Six Nations loss to Ireland at Twickenham.

The 26-year-old Simmonds suffered serious injury since then, an ordeal which he spoke openly about to RugbyPass in April 2019, but he returned with a bang, scoring nine tries as Exeter won last season’s Heineken Champions Cup and ten tries to help his team become Premiership champions. 

Overall, Simmonds has a prolific career try-scoring record of 52 tries in 76 Test, Premiership and Champions Cup appearances compared to Billy Vunipola’s 32 tries in 208 Test, Premiership and Champions Cup appearances – yet Simmonds is playing for Exeter at Sandy Park this Saturday while Vunipola, an out-and-out Jones favourite, runs out at Twickenham again as the preferred No8 despite his latest below-par performance in last week’s loss to Scotland.

How long more this strike rate of Simmonds can be ignored, who knows? What is clear is that Rob Baxter is revelling in seeing his No8 play so dominantly week after week after week. “What it comes down to is how they perform at the weekend and what he [Simmonds] has shown is that he is dealing with it exceptionally well,” said Baxter when quizzed by RugbyPass this week about his player’s stellar form and his ongoing non-selection by England.

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“Whether his focus is to prove people right or to prove people wrong, whatever his driver is it’s working very well for him because he is performing very well in some tough games for us.

“What you see with Sam is he massively complements the rest of that (Exeter) pack of forwards, he complements the make-up of that back row, he complements the make-up of the back five of the scrum and he complements the make-up of the pack of a whole and he complements us as a team.

“That is what you need, you want each one of your 15 guys who are on the field to have a key role. They have obviously got to be an all-round rugby player, which Sam is because he gets talked about a lot as an attacker and as a ball-carrier and as a try-scorer but he is actually a very good defender. 

“If you watch the quality of some of his collisions last weekend (at Newcastle) there is no way anyone is going to turnaround and say he is not a big defender as well. It’s that explosive raw power and speed that contributes to what he gives to the team as a back row forward,” continued Baxter, who team’s recent form suggests they have overcome the two league defeats they suffered in early January.

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“As an example, having him work off the base of the scrum gives you great options in attack. In particular close to the opposition line, our five-metre attack does rely on power ball carriers over short distances which he is very good at so he scores in that area.

“And obviously if you set up any kind of a maul or a driving game you want the ball to be in the hands of the person who can make something happen if that maul breaks down or if it needs that final surge of power to get you over that last metre or so. 

“He slots into filling all those roles really well and what we try to do with Sam is make sure we get the ball in his hands as much as possible because he has got the attributes that get him over a try line. That is what you do if you have got an attribute, you get the ball in that person’s hands.

“The challenge for any team when it has won trophies is not to hang in there and try and win it again, the challenge is how many players can have that season’s best tally in everything because that will ultimately drive you to another successful year. 

“We talked to the players a lot about this. I said they need to have their best individual season this season because that is our best way of winning anything so if Sam has his best individual season as a try scorer, that is what gives us the best opportunity of winning a trophy at the end of the season. If you just try and have a season like last year we will go backwards, so it should be about individual targets and it should be about individual records, that is the way it should be.”

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J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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