Joe Simmonds on the departure of his brother, Samm; He'll get out of his comfort zone



by SEAD DEDOVIC

Joe Simmonds on the departure of his brother, Samm; He'll get out of his comfort zone
Joe Simmonds on the departure of his brother, Samm; He'll get out of his comfort zone

Exeter fly-half Joe Simmonds is not happy about the departure of two important players from the team: Sam Simmonds and Luke Cowan-Dickie. He hopes that the team will be good enough without them. "We need to make the most of this year with them and see how far we can get and hopefully send them off with trophies and some silverware," he said, as quoted by bbc.com.

"You can't take it away, they're going to be a huge loss for us." Joe Simmonds is still an optimist considering that some young players have a chance to prove themselves, and the quality they obviously possess. "But we've got to look forward - we've got some good youngsters coming through, exciting players.

So although we're going to be losing some pretty big players I think we're going to be alright for it because we've got some good youngsters coming through."

Sam Simmonds

Sam Simmonds (his brother) will benefit greatly from going to another club, according to Joe Simmonds.

There was no doubt that Sam was eager for a new career challenge. "All we've known is playing with each other and we've lived together and grown up together, so it will be different," he said. "But I think it's an experience for him to get out of his comfort zone a little bit, he's just had a little girl as well so for his family it'll be nice for a little change up.

"We've got family in Exeter so this is always a place he can come down and live maybe in the future, but I think for now he just wants to experience things and I think it's the right move for him." Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter doesn't begrudge the players who have given so much to his team.

"We're in a cycle where there's got to be an understanding that this is likely to happen," Baxter told BBC Sport. "These guys have had an extended period with us, they've gone on to be successful individual players and in a successful team.

"At this stage in their career at the same time as the salary cap is going down and salaries in England are coming under pressure for players, if you're a big team in another country who want to bring in an international player who's had experience of winning trophies we've got a few of those and they're going to get targeted by teams. "None of them go with any clouds over it, we have an expectation that that's what's likely to happen."