Joe Simpson (born 5 July 1988) is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays

scrum half Scrum may refer to: * Autozam Scrum, a microvan and pickup truck sold in Japan by Mazda * Line of scrimmage, line separating football teams before a play * Media scrum, an impromptu press conference, often held immediately outside an event such a ...

who plays for

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

in the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

. He most recently played for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, between 2006 and 2019 he played 230 times for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

, in 2011 he played one international for and was named in the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

squad. He has also represented

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

in rugby sevens.

Early life

Simpson was born in Australia to a New Zealand mother and English father, both rugby enthusiasts. He has one younger brother called Michael. Simpson was educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing, which he represented at both rugby and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and where he was honoured as Victor Ludorum for athletics three times, at junior, middle and senior school levels. Outside school he played cricket for Ealing Cricket Club and played with

Hugo Ellis Hugo Ellis (born 4 February 1988, in Isleworth, London, England) is a rugby union player who plays as a back-row forward for Rosslyn Park. He is a former pupil of St Benedict's School, Ealing. In June 2010 Ellis joined Newport Gwent Dragons ...

and Dominic Waldouck, in the youth team at Richmond Rugby Club.

Club career

Simpson joined the Wasps England Rugby Academy full-time from St Benedict's School in the summer of 2006, but spent much of the subsequent two years at

Blackheath Rugby Club Blackheath Football Club is a rugby union club based in Well Hall, Eltham, in south-east London. The club was founded in Blackheath in 1858 and is the oldest open rugby club in continuous existence in the world. The Blackheath club also ass ...

on loan. In the 2008/09 season Simpson graduated to the Wasps first team, coming on as a substitute a number of times and gaining a more frequent position in the starting XV towards the latter part of the season. He scored on his debut and was awarded fourth place in the

Guinness Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

Try of the Season award. Simpson signed a full-time senior contract with Wasps in the summer of 2009 securing his place at the club for two years. He was in the starting line-up for the opening game of the season on 5 September 2009 against Harlequins, played at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

as part of the London Double Header . In the first minute Simpson was head-butted by George Robson, the Harlequins'

lock Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

, in an off-the-ball incident. After treatment on the field for a cut sustained to his nose Simpson continued to play for the remaining 79 minutes, despite feeling sick and dizzy. On 17 December 2010, Wasps announced that Simpson had signed a three-year extension to his contract which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2013/14 season. Simpson underwent surgery after suffering an ankle injury in Wasps' 51-10 European Champions Cup win over Leinster on 23 January 2016. "It is obviously disappointing for everyone that Joe has had to undergo surgery on his ankle, especially at a time when he was playing so well. I'm sure he was knocking on the door for international recognition." said Wasps boss

Dai Young David Young (born 26 July 1967) is a Welsh rugby union coach and former rugby union and rugby league player. He was most recently director of rugby at Cardiff Blues. A prop, he won 51 caps for Wales in rugby union between 1987 and 2002, three ...

. Simpson's injury, just a week before the start of the Six Nations, ends any hopes he might have had of getting an England recall this season under new coach Eddie Jones. This is Simpson's second major injury in less than a year, having been stretchered off in the 26–21 home defeat by Leicester in May 2015 with a medial collateral ligament blow, dashing his hopes of making the World Cup squad. On 6 February 2019, it was confirmed that Simpson would move to

in time for the 2019–20 season. In September 2021,

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

announced Simpson would join them on a one-month loan deal from Gloucester to provide additional cover following

Ivan van Zyl Ivan van Zyl (born 30 June 1995) is a South African rugby union player for Saracens. His regular position is scrum-half. Career Youth Van Zyl represented the Blue Bulls as early as primary school level, appearing at the Under-13 Craven Week co ...

suspension as well as Ruben de Haas being away on international duty. This was followed by a three-month loan to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. After he left Gloucester, it was confirmed on 20 July 2022, that he signed a six-month deal to join

from the 2022–23 season. Following this he will retire from rugby. Simpson has since turned out for Old Priorian RFC (formed from the old boys of St Benedict's School) 2nd XV, and played alongside his brother Michael as part of an Invitational XV versus an Ealing Trailfinders Academy XV managed by Jonah Holmes.

International career

In May 2006 Simpson earned his first cap in the England Under 19 team, playing against Wales. In the 2007/08 season he secured a place with the England sevens' side, travelling to Dubai for the IRB World Seven Series tournament, and was also named in the England Under 20s squad. At the end of the season he was nominated for the 'IRB Young Player of the Year Award' for his performance in the IRB Junior World Championship in June 2008. In June 2009 Simpson progressed into the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...

squad and travelled with Wasps' teammates Dom Waldouck and

Danny Cipriani Danny Cipriani (; born 2 November 1987) is an English former professional rugby union player. He most recently played for Premiership Rugby side Bath and previously played for Gloucester, Sale Sharks and Wasps in the Premiership and Melbourn ...

to play in the

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada national rugby union team, Canada, England Saxons, England, the United States national rugby union te ...

in Colorado. On his debut he completed a solo try and was awarded Man of the Match and appeared twice more during the tournament (in which the Saxons lost the final to Ireland A), coming on as a substitute. Following his performance at the 2009 Churchill Cup Simpson was selected for the 2009/10 squad for the England Saxons national rugby union team. On 11 May 2010 Simpson was one of nine uncapped players named in the England senior squad to tour Australia and New Zealand in the summer and on 30 May he made his debut for England, coming on as a substitute for

David Strettle David Strettle (born 23 July 1983) is a former English rugby union wing. Early life Strettle grew up in Thelwall, Cheshire, attending Lymm High School and playing for Lymm RFC. Strettle then went on to study at Sheffield Hallam University. ...

with nine minutes remaining in the match against the Barbarians. However, having sustained an injury to his left hamstring in the Barbarians game the RFU announced that Simpson would have to pull out of the tour. On 12 January 2011, it was announced that Simpson had been called up to the senior England squad (EPS) for the 6 Nations tournament. On 22 August 2011 Simpson was named in the 30-man England squad heading to New Zealand for the

, the opportunity arising following an injury to

Danny Care Daniel Stuart Care (born 2 January 1987) is an English professional rugby union player who played as a scrum-half for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins and the England national team. Early life Care was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire. He ...

. On 18 September 2011, Simpson replaced Ben Youngs in the 66th minute against Georgia in the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup 2011 to win his long anticipated first cap. He was only the third player to win his first cap for England in a Rugby World cup tournament – first was Richard West v Manu Samoa at RWC 1995,

Joe Worsley Joseph Paul Richard Worsley, (born 14 June 1977) is a retired English rugby union player who played Flanker (rugby union), flanker for Wasps RFC, Wasps and England national rugby union team, England. Biography Worsley was born in London and ...

who was the 2nd player to do so at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

References

External links

Wasps ProfileEngland Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Joe 1988 births Living people Wasps RFC players People educated at St Benedict's School, Ealing English rugby union players Australian rugby union players Rugby union players from Sydney England international rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Gloucester Rugby players Bath Rugby players Saracens F.C. players Sale Sharks players 2011 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century Australian sportsmen