PACY PIRATE
England gem Sam Simmonds has gone from £300 a game to swashbuckling sensation
AT The start of the season, sam simmonds was on a list of exeter players available to play in the second division for the Cornish Pirates.
What a difference six months has made. rather than collect a £300 match fee in the lower leagues, the pint-sized No 8 has now adopted a starring role for england in the six Nations.
It all left rob Baxter, who signed simmonds as a schoolboy, with a sense of pride as he watched on his television set in exeter on sunday.
‘I had the game on at home and it was fantastic to see simmo do so well,’ said exeter’s director of rugby.
‘Did I expect him to be playing for england at the start of the season? I’d be lying if I said yes because in some ways he’s still an inexperienced Premiership player.
‘What’s so pleasing is that he’s a humble, hard-working guy who’s done it the hard way. Things haven’t always gone his way and he’s dealt with the tough stuff as well as the good stuff.’
Two explosive bursts of speed helped simmonds score twice at the stadio Olimpico on sunday. Last season, he was making similar runs against rotherham and Doncaster in the Championship.
his natural speed first caught Baxter’s eye during a school match in 2012, when he was seeking a rugby contract to avoid joining his father at work on the family fishing boat.
Initially there were doubts about his size — but simmonds has shown that he can mix it with the heavyweights.
‘ The first time I saw
Simmo was when he was playing for Ivybridge College,’ said Baxter. ‘He stood out at a very young age. If space opened up for him, he could literally just “go” because of his tremendous pace. ‘The question was, “Hmm. Is he going to be big enough for the Premiership?” We didn’t just look at him and say, “Yeah, he’s fine”. He’s fought those battles and he’s matured into a solid customer. ‘He’s been on a similar pathway to guys like Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie but he’s had to do it slightly differently. He didn’t get picked for the england Under 20s and hasn’t been vetted the whole way. He’s played sevens, A League, Championship and got rewarded.’ The 23- year- old has progressed so quickly that he has not had time to move out of his mother’s house in Devon. He still lives with his brother Joe, a 21-year-old fly-half who played alongside Sam for the first time in exeter’s win at Leicester last March, and they developed their skills together in the garden.
‘I think he’s looking to move out after the Six Nations,’ joked Joe. ‘He’s outgrown it a little bit but he likes our mum’s cooking. We had to get an extension done to give him an ensuite recently!
‘Growing up, he was always strong. We played rugby on our knees in the house and there were a few broken windows or ornaments. He was always the calmer one but I had a knack of winding him up.
‘It would be something small like stealing his cap and he would try to beat me up. I remember locking myself in the upstairs toilet for half an hour while he was just waiting outside. I was in there until I slipped him a five-pound note under the door and surrendered!’
Joe could well follow in his brother’s footsteps and he will no doubt be seeking tickets to watch Sam face Wales at Twickenham on Saturday. Simmonds is likely to retain the No 8 jersey for now, although Baxter believes he is capable of shifting to No 7 when Billy Vunipola returns from injury.
‘After one game, people are already trying to work out whether he should be playing No 8 or No 7,’ said Baxter. ‘The reality is the shirt number is a little bit irrelevant. What’s important is where he gets on the ball and how he gets on the ball. The key is for england to use him in the right way.
‘There’s no reason why that can’t be alongside Billy Vunipola. People ask, “Who’s your ball carrier? Who’s your fetcher?” and so and so. Sam’s all-round game is good. Defensively against Italy he was good and his clear-out was good. You’ve just got to get the combination in the back five of your scrum right, then the numbers become a little bit irrelevant.’
Few would have predicted Simmonds to be wearing any international number at the start of the season.
But after passing his biggest audition yet with flying colours, he could well be here to stay.