Baxter backs Simmonds to shine for British Lions
Number 8 is one of four Exeter players named by Gatland for tour of South Africa
ROB Baxter has backed Exeter Chiefs ace Sam Simmonds to bring the X-Factor to the travelling British & Irish Lions squad that tours South Africa this summer.
The 26-year-old reigning European player of the year has largely been ignored for international honours by England head coach Eddie Jones, who did not include him in the squad for the disastrous 2021 Six Nations campaign, but he was one of four Exeter Chiefs players named by Lions head coach Warren Gatland for the summer series against the reigning world champions.
Simmonds will be joined by Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill and Stuart Hogg as Gatland named a 37-strong party, but it is the inclusion of Simmonds that will appease the many voices that have been calling for his inclusion in the national side.
Now, he will get the chance to show his quality against the very best in the world and Exeter director of rugby Baxter feels he has the ability to bring that something extra that only the very best players in the world can do.
“Sam is not someone that is running around whooping and screaming and shouting at people, or climbing over people making out he’s doing anything fantastic,” Baxter said. “He is a quietly very determined person, he is one of the drivers within our squad and when he is on the field, he takes things very, very seriously and you see that in his demeanour and the way he carries himself and what he expects of the other players.
“I think he is one of those guys that has the X-Factor and one thing historically that you have seen from Lions Test series is that, sometimes, a guy comes out of nowhere and he makes the difference.
“Sam fits a lot of those profiles of a guy that comes in and makes a bit of difference in those one or two key moments in those one or two key games and it can turn a whole series.”
Simmonds has been one of the stand out players for the Chiefs in recent seasons and this campaign, he sits atop of the try scorers in the league with 14 touchdowns so far. Asked what he can bring to the party, Baxter added: “He will do a job if he gets on the ball, without a doubt.
“You only have to watch him against Bristol, if you get him on the ball in any kind of space, or not even that much space, that ability to get you over the gain line and get you forward quickly is probably second to nine in the Premiership.
“He still doesn’t get the credit for the quality of his defensive work. He is not a soak-up tackler, he is a guy who gets off the line and stops people and you can see that on a regular basis and obviously, what his speed allows him to do is make tackles that no other forwards can make.
“There is lots there to like and you have to look at those positive attributes and you have to use them in your team. If you use them in your team, it means he’s the guy you get on the ball, he’s the receiver at lineouts, he’s the guy that’s going to be a strike runner in the back line, whether you use him as a striker or a decoy, but you don’t want him to spend the game foraging around looking for ball. You want him on the ball and part of your attack and part of your formula going forward.
“That’s is the impact he can make, but it depends on the game plan the Lions want to use and how they see him, does he fit into it and the players they pick around him.”
However, while it was elation for the four Chiefs players named in the squad, it was disappointment for the likes of Jack Nowell, who was named in the Lions squad four years ago, Henry Slade, Wales international Tomas Francis and Scotland’s Sam Skinner, who did miss out.