Olympics shot has Simpson in sevens heaven
Wasps No 9 has chance of unique double
SHORTLY before the London Olympics Joe Simpson’ s career was at a crossroad as Wasps were 80 minutes from relegation and could not afford to pay their players.
They avoided the drop that year by one point and now they are in the play-off semifinals with Simpson preparing to mix it in Rio with Usain Bolt and Mo Farah.
The scrum- half will join Great Britain’s sevens team after this month’s title push with his mood in stark contrast to the days when £2million of debt put Wasps on the verge of bankruptcy.
‘If we had been relegated the likelihood is we wouldn’t exist now,’ said Simpson. ‘We would have seen every player leave, but we lived to fight another day.
‘Exeter on Saturday is the most important match during my nine years at the club so I’m not thinking about sevens yet. But there wasn’t much selling needed when ( head coach) Simon Amor asked, “Would you like to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games?”’
As Simpson fights to survive Amor’s 25-man Brazil- bound squad being cut to 12, a handful of his Wasps colleagues will be touring Australia with England.
Injuries have meant Simpson has not been able to add to his solitary Red Rose cap but the absence has only fuelled the 27- year- old’s Test aspirations. ‘My concern was going to the Olympics could hinder my international career,’ he said.id ‘I’ve still got ambitions to play for England so I asked Simon to speak to Eddie Jones.
‘I spoke to Eddie and he said, “I actually think the sevens could be quite good for you. It won’t be held against you”.
‘An Olympic medal would be special. But as soon as the Olympics finishes that will be my sevens career knocked on the head.’
The transition to the short-form game will involve rigorous conditioning. Going from stop-start 40-minute halves to short, sharp bursts of seven minutes requires fine muscletuning, which often leads to injuries for XVs players.
‘I don’t think it will be too much of a skills transition — I’m used to passing so I’ll probably sit in the midfield and look to spread the ball around,’ said Simpson. ‘In sevens, one mistake can cost you. In XVs you have to do something special to break through. Sevens is more tactical and comes down to patience.
‘It will be a complete change in fitness and robustness. I’ll have to have a big old sit-down with coaches and conditioners. Those sevens boys are freakishly fit.’
Wallaby quade Cooper failed to make the switch but Simpson is hoping his pace and footwork stand him in better stead. The same skills have caught Jones’s eye and, having been told to work on his foot placement when passing the ball, Simpson is hoping to be back in contention for the autumn internationals.
Simpson, who did not play under previous England coach Stuart Lancaster, said: ‘A couple of years ago, when different coaches were in, I felt there were clear favourites. I felt frustrated that I was low in the pecking order behind some members of the team.
‘Eddie gives you very specific pointers. Other coaches have said, “You need to work on this or that” and you think, “That’s got no relevance whatsoever”.
Tomorrow’s play-off at Sandy Park, Wasps’ brightest afternoon since the dark days, is a prime chance to impress before his sevens summer sojourn.
‘ We’re the underdogs now, which we don’t mind,’ said Simpson. ‘We’ve made steady progress and now we’re fighting it out for our first final in eight years.’