Sam Simmonds shines in unfamiliar role as young bucks lead the way for England - David Flatman’s Six Nations analysis

Running man | Sam Simmonds races away to score the first of his two tries against Italy on his Six Nations debut for England
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
David Flatman5 February 2018

Young, nervous rugby players will often unconsciously seek the company and reassurance of those more worn and knowing.

As kick-off looms, it is natural for some players - even the most gifted - to feel apprehensive. After all, Test rugby is quite the examination.

Their body language may give them away, or the senior players will know. They will just know. To this end, Sam Simmonds will, I am certain, have been told simply that he was in the team because of what he does for his club, Exeter Chiefs. Just do what you do, lad: that is why you are here.

When playing for Exeter, Simmonds operates as a kind of electric, super-elastic rocket, in possession of feline balance and rally car poise. Despite this being only his second season of grown-up rugby, he has been sensational.

The thing is, his entire highlights reel would comprise clips of him with ball in hand. With an inch of space and with the ball securely delivered, he is explosive to the point of being occasionally unplayable.

But what happens when, having been told to do just what you do, when something altogether different is required? Some players crumble, or at least disappear for a while. Yesterday, in Rome, Simmonds jogged into a game that should not have suited him.

In Pictures | Italy vs England | 04/02/2018

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Of course, he carried some ball early on, and did so perfectly effectively. But his primary role for the first hour or so was to bash people in the tackle.

By the end of the match he had made 23 tackles. This, from a young man selected for his ball carrying. The job spec changed upon first contact, and he adapted and overcame. Simmonds the athlete became the dominant defensive force on the field.

He does not have bulk - in fact, he weighs an astonishing five stone less than Billy Vunipola - but he develops freakish power.

This is all well and good but that power needs the right attitude if it is to be deployed.

From the very start, Simmonds felled anything that was blue and that moved. He shirked nothing, wilfully colliding with aggressive intent, and reading the unarguably improved Italian attack with an intelligence that only adds to his value. How he did not win man of the match (not that it even matters) is a mystery.

So, what to do when Big Bill rolls back into town? Well, assuming everybody is fit and in reasonable form, Vunipola has to play. But does that mean Simmonds finds himself cast in the (secretly) dreaded role of ‘finisher?’

I think he may, for one game at least. It is worth remembering that with, say, a back row of Simmonds, Vunipola and Chris Robshaw, there is not much help being offered at lineout time, potentially making England too easy to defend and foil. So there has to be a Courtney Lawes or a Maro Itoje or, dare we say it, a Don Armand in there.

The prospect that Simmonds might one day soon come off the bench at openside, though, is a real one. And when he does, presumably replacing Robshaw himself, he may well prove very difficult to drop.

If he plays anywhere near as well as he did in Rome, he can write his own cheque. Robshaw is going nowhere, but expect him to be challenged hard for his place by Simmonds.

The battle will be fascinating to watch, and Robshaw is well aware of the ability of his back row buddy. Plonking himself down on the reserves bench yesterday having been replaced, he was overheard saying: “How bloody quick is Sam Simmonds? Jesus!” And he was not wrong; the Italians just could not live with him.

Another player whose progress could be mesmerising to watch is Alec Hepburn.

Having had some cruddy luck with injuries, the Exeter loose-head has every single thing needed to be a top-of-the-range operator.

His scrummaging is improving by the month and his ball carrying and tackling are simply superb. By my reckoning he is fifth or sixth in the England pecking order but if he stays fit he will go as far as he wants to, such is his tenacity and talent.

Eddie Jones will have been happy as he took his eggs and bacon this morning, primarily as his side did a good job, but also because it was the younger bucks who took the game and ran with it. Anthony Watson, Owen Farrell, George Ford, and Simmonds were all big and confident and dominant. The future, it seems, is bright.

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