A casualty of the collapse of two top English clubs has emerged as a surprise attacking weapon for the Force ahead of their clash with the Waratahs in Sydney this week.
England-born, South Africa-raised halfback Gareth Simpson had not cracked the Force’s match-day squad a month ago. He was just glad to have a job after being caught up in the ugly demise of once-proud UK side Worcester last year.
Since being picked up by the Force on a year-long deal, Simpson has collected two player of the match awards in three games, stepped up to captain the team in Michael Wells’ absence and scored a try in the Force’s 45-42 bonus point loss to competition leaders the Hurricanes in round six.
Not bad for a 25-year-old who thought the sky was falling in when the Warriors were placed in administration and booted from the Premiership last October over unpaid taxes, leaving players out of work in the middle of the season.
In what was described at the time by Premiership powerbroker Steve Diamond as “the darkest day in English rugby”, London club Wasps was also kicked out of the competition and placed into administration.
“In the last couple of weeks we played games when we hadn’t been paid,” Simpson said.
The Force rescued halfback Gareth Simpson, who is returning the favour in spades this season.Credit: Getty
“There’s people at that club with young families, people expecting kids … our fans, who had dedicated their whole lives to supporting Worcester Warriors, they now don’t have a club to support and it’s really sad.
“For me personally, I had lots of close friends there, I’d just bought a house in Worcester, I loved the community, my family lived nearby. It was part of my identity and who I was. It was tough to understand what was going on.”
Simpson is with the Force on a one-year deal.Credit: Getty
Simpson was lucky enough to be picked up by Saracens for the 2023/24 season but had almost a full season to fill when a Christmas Eve call came from Force coach Simon Cron.
“A couple of days later I was doing my visa application,” Simpson said.
“There’s no better opportunity than coming to learn something new, playing Super Rugby, experience a new environment, a lovely country, and hopefully learn some stuff while I’m here and taking that back with me.”
Saturday’s match is shaping as a scrap between the second- and third-lowest ranked sides in the competition as Super Rugby Pacific reaches its halfway mark. But both the Force and the Waratahs claimed improvement in their games leading into last week’s bye.
The Force roped in a 26-7 halftime deficit with five second-half tries to go down by three points at the siren against the Hurricanes, while the Waratahs produced their strongest game by some way against the Brumbies.
“The whole season has been us there or thereabouts and things are starting to click for us. We’re growing every week and constantly improving,” Simpson said.
“The table’s not necessarily the best reflection of where we’re at as a team because we are constantly learning and constantly growing.”
Watch all the action from the Super Rugby Pacific with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport.
