Simmonds in no rush to give up home comforts as he prepares to take place on big stage
ONE of the consequences of Sam Simmonds’ whirlwind rise is that he has not even had the time to move out of the childhood bedroom in his mother’s house.
He has had the same bedroom since he was 13 years old – although there is now an England jersey to hang on the wall, not too far from his X-Box.
‘I think he’s looking to move out after the Six Nations,’ joked his younger brother, 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!’
Last season, the fisherman’s son was earning £300 a match for the Cornish Pirates at their 4,000-seater stadium in Penzance.
‘We grew up in Teignmouth, not too far from the beach,’ said Sam. ‘Mum was never too keen for us to become fishermen. We both grew up playing football, but moving to rugby was a pretty good idea really!’
This afternoon, the 23year-old will start for England in their Six Nations opener against Italy. At 6ft and 16st, he is one of the smallest No 8s in Test rugby but he has won over England coach Eddie Jones with his speed and explosiveness.
He is an antidote to rugby’s “bigger is better” trend – despite Jones telling him to eat more Cornish pasties to help him bulk up. ‘He’s a good ball runner, he runs good lines, he carries hard and he’s a strong defender,’ said Jones.
‘We just need to get some beef on him now. We might have to send him down to Miyazaki in Japan to get him some Miyazaki beef. Those Cornish pasties are clearly not working.’
Sam, however, has punched above his weight
in his first full season in the Exeter back-row. He was recalled from the Pirates in the Championship last year — starring in the tail end of Exeter’s Premiership victory — and has become a stand-out performer under Rob Baxter.
‘The Championship was a good breeding ground for Sam,’ said Pirates coach Gavin Cattle, who first encountered Sam in 2015.
‘He arrived as a young lad fighting for a place in the team. He’d get a match fee — a couple of hundred quid — but at one point he was wondering if he was going to get a contract.
‘What stood out was his X-factor. He just had this ability to change a game.
‘He wasn’t the tallest but he had this explosive speed which always beat the first defender. On short line-outs, he was like an extra back in the backfield. His first two or three steps are incredible.’
Sam followed a similar dual-registered pathway to fellow Cornishmen Jack Nowell, Henry Slade and Luke Cowan-Dickie.
All four have won England honours, while brother Joe is also making a mark on Exeter’s senior team as an up-and-coming No 10.
‘We were always playing rugby on our knees in the house,’ said Joe. ‘There were a few broken windows and ornaments. Sam was always the calmer one but I had a knack of winding him up.’
The siblings have gone from being rivals in the back garden to battling in the big time.
‘I put a mark on him early, so he stays in his box!’ said Sam who, today, will take the fight to the home of the gladiators.