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'I love scoring tries' - Sam Simmonds breaks one try scoring record but he's still chasing 23-year-old milestone

By PA
Sam Simmonds /Getty

Exeter forwards coach Rob Hunter was full of praise for number eight Sam Simmonds after his brace saw him break the record for tries scored in a Premiership season by a forward.

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Sam Simmonds took his tally for this campaign to 16 as Exeter were convincing 41-10 comeback winners over Worcester at a blustery and rain-sodden Sandy Park.

Henry Slade, Dave Ewers, Stu Townsend and Jacques Vermeulen also scored tries for Exeter with Joe Simmonds kicking a penalty and four conversions as Chiefs moved back into second place in the Gallagher Premiership table.

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Jim, Andy, Fez and Shanks react to the 2021 Lions squad:

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Jim, Andy, Fez and Shanks react to the 2021 Lions squad:

Francois Venter scored Worcester’s try with Jamie Shillcock adding a penalty and a conversion.

Hunter said: “It’s a fantastic testament to the way Sam works and it’s a special achievement for any player.

“With 45 mile-per-hour winds and rain forecast we would have taken a bonus-point victory as it is important that we control our own destiny.

“We were pretty calm at half-time (trailing 10-8) as we knew we had to keep it simple and keep our discipline for if we got close to their line we knew the scores would come.”

Breaking the try-scoring record capped a terrific week for Sam Simmonds, who on Thursday celebrated his call-up for the British and Irish Lions.

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He said: “I love scoring tries and I’ve got four regular games to go to try and score the two tries to break the Premiership record for any player.

“It helps when players like Dave Ewers and Franny (Tomas Francis) keep forcing me over.

“It was a tough first half in those conditions but it was about staying in the game so we were happy to go in at half-time only two points down.

“We played in the right areas in the second half and we just knew we had to stick to our jobs.”

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The only blot on Exeter’s day was a further injury to wing Jack Nowell, who limped off midway through the second half.

Hunter said: “I’m not sure yet what the problem is but Jack has had a horrible run of injuries with a number of knock-backs in terms of rehab but he’s a very professional guy so he will work through it.”

Worcester head coach Jonathan Thomas believed the final score was harsh on his battling Warriors.

He said: “In the first half, we played the conditions really well but didn’t capitalise as I thought we had the better set-piece.

“We were disappointed to concede the eight points before the interval – their try was a breakaway one and the penalty came at the scrum after Fin (Smith) had kicked the ball dead.

“Discipline killed us in the second half, you can’t afford to concede 13 or 14 penalties in a match, but the scoreline doesn’t reflect the effort we put in although I’m disappointed at the way we fell away.”

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J
JW 19 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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