I’m No1 at Wasps, Joe Simpson warns Dan Robson
There was no place for Simpson in Stuart Lancaster’s England training squad last week but the 26-year-old has been in a rich vein of form for a resurgent Wasps, scoring tries in victories over Sale and Harlequins already this month.
And while there is no shortage of quality among the half-backs at the Ricoh Arena, numbers are thin on the ground – at scrum-half Charlie Davies is currently the only legitimate senior back-up.
Injury meant Davies did not make the bench in last week’s European victory over Quins and Elliot Daly, the starting centre, would have filled the hole if Simpson had gone down.
Dai Young has lined up Gloucester’s Robson as the solution to this shortage but the 22-year-old will not be arriving in Coventry to play second-fiddle next summer after sitting behind Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw at Kingsholm.
However, an in-form Simpson is intent on looking up rather than over his shoulder as he seeks to add to the sole England cap he earned at the 2011 World Cup.
“I have been pushed here, Charlie Davies has been magnificent in some of the matches he’s played this season, he started both of our bonus-point victories against Castres and played a big part – so there’s already competition that I’ve had to fight off,” said Simpson, who was named in the England Saxons squad to take on the Ireland Wolfhounds on January 30.
“But I want to play as well as I can and as much as I can whether it’s the Premiership or Europe. You never want to share time, I want to be the main man at Wasps.
“So any No.9 coming here I see as a challenge and hopefully as long as I keep performing, I’ll give Dai (Young) no option but to keep picking me.
“I feel rejuvenated and I think I’m playing the best rugby of my career, even better than when I was winning my England cap and getting called-up to the squad. I think I can do a job for England and have talents that the other 9s don’t have.
“Coming off the bench I think I can threaten around the base and up the tempo in the last 15 or 20 minutes, which is the time when close international games are often decided.
“But it doesn’t matter whether it’s now or next year, it’s something I’m working towards and I’m loving my rugby at Wasps.”
CHRIS BAILEY
