Simpson happy to join the monsters

Joe Simpson is looking forward to playing behind a “monster” pack after prolonging his Premiership career at Sale Sharks.

The vastly experienced scrum-half is one of four confirmed signings to date along with George Ford, who will miss the start of the season through injury, and Exeter duo, Tom O’Flaherty and Jonny Hill, below.

Hill’s sizeable presence will make the Sharks’ pack every bit as intimidating as last season if not more, which will come as a welcome change for Simpson after playing much of last season on the back foot at struggling Bath.

“If you have a little look at our squad, we are going abrasive. I am looking forward to playing behind a monster pack. When they’ve got in the right areas, Sale, historically, particularly under Al (Sanderson), have gone out to dominate teams,” he said.

Simpson looked set to be one of the victims of rugby‘s job crisis, but the one-cap England international has managed to secure a six-month deal with the northern club and is currently embarking on his 16th pre-season as a top-flight player.

At 34 years of age, the economics graduate admits it was “probability not a possibility” that his number in pro rugby was going to be up, that’s until Sale came in at the last minute and persuaded him to venture north for the first time in his career.

“I didn’t fear it, I have had a fantastic career, I have loved the vast majority of it, it has made me who I am today, it’s given me my values and work ethic and friendship and everything like that; it’s given me so much,” he said.

“I am very aware that I have had a longer career than most of my peers and I look back with appreciation and anything extra is a bonus.

“If I’d have had to knock it on the head, that’s just life, there are lot of people in a far worse position than I am. When you hear the very sad news about Ed Slater (He was recently diagnosed with motor neurone disease) , you just realise how lucky you are to be fit and healthy.

“When this came along, I didn’t jump at it, it wasn’t the be-all and endall for me to get a club because I’ve had my first baby, Matilda, who is coming up to 11 months old and that gives you a whole new perspective on life. Family takes priority but my wife really pushed me, telling me I had to take this one opportunity, and you don’t want to finish on Bath.

“Speaking to Alex kind of reignited my fire, he was passionate and enthusiastic, I love the way that he speaks and thinks about the game and he said he thinks I can make a real difference in this squad both on and off the pitch.

“I know I can perform at Premiership level, I know I can be a good member of the squad and bring people on, and I know that I have got a good few more years left in me.”

As well as being a threat in his own right, Sale saw the value of what an experienced operator like Simpson could bring to young scrum-halves like Raffi Quirke, Gus Warr and Nye Thomas.

Simpson has played in over 200 Premiership games, the majority at Wasps, with the last couple of years spent going back and forth from Gloucester on loan, to Saracens and Bath.

“It’s been an interesting couple of years to say the least. I started off at Wasps in the summer of 2006 for my first proper pre-season and was there for 15 years and it’s been a bit of a merry-go-round the last couple of years but it is just something you’ve got to deal with being a professional rugby player, I guess.

“We have such a fantastic job and sometimes you have got sacrifice a bit here and there.

“I am just looking forward to getting stuck in, getting playing and getting some game time in the pre-season friendlies.”

That Simpson’s Premiership career might wind down at Sale, his fifth club, is somewhat ironic because his topflight days almost stopped before they’d properly started there, on Boxing Day in 2008.

His first league start for Wasps ended in a 31- 3 defeat at Edgeley Park and Simpson recalls it was a real education as to what being a Premiership 9 was about. He said: “I got substituted at half-time. We sent a bomb squad up to Sale and remember they had Chabal, Bruno, and Luke McAlister was there, and they were absolutely awesome and tore us to shreds. It was a baptism of fire; I was off the pace and nowhere near good enough.

“But I went away and had some fantastic coaching, particularly from Shaun Edwards who believed in me and worked hard on upskilling me in the next few months and then I was able to hold my own.”

Now he is hoping to impart some of that knowledge on his rivals for the No.9 jersey. “We’ve got some really talented 9s that are learning the game. They are fantastic rugby players but you have to appreciate that there is more to scrumhalf-ship than just being a fantastic rugby player as we saw in slugged it out.

“It’s a game of chess, it’s attritional, the ball is in the air and it’s about the kick chase … you have to play the game conservatively because the rules at the moment probably favour the defensive team in the middle of the pitch. You have got to be very structured, and then, once you have won the territory battle, you can come alive and do your thing in the ‘kill zone’.

“Until something drastically changes, teams are adapting and learning to kick more. Kicking is a very effective way of gaining territory and that is becoming more and more part of the game. I understand that it might not be the greatest spectacle but I am sure there will still be a lot of good rugby played.”