Rob Simmons (born 19 April 1989 in

Theodore, Queensland Theodore is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Shire of Banana, Queensland, Australia. It was established in the 1920s as part of Queensland Premier Ted Theodore's ambitious Dawson River Irrigation Scheme which ...

) is an Australian

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 ...

footballer. He currently plays for Clermont in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

in France and represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in international fixtures. His position is lock, but he can also play in the backrow.

Early life

Simmons was born in Theodore, Queensland. He attended

The Southport School The Southport School (TSS) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Southport, a suburb on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Established in 1901 by the Revd Horac ...

, on the Gold Coast in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and played for the Australian Schoolboys team in 2006. Simmons was selected for the Australian U19s representative side in 2007. He played for the Australian Under 20 side at the 2008 IRB Junior World Cup in Wales.

Career

In 2007, Simmons played for the

East Coast Aces Queensland Country was an Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is one of two Queensland sides in the competition, the other being . Queensland Country is organised and managed by ...

in the inaugural

Australian Rugby Championship The Australian Rugby Championship, often abbreviated to the ARC and also known as the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship for sponsorship purposes, was a domestic professional men's rugby union football competition in Australia, which ran for onl ...

. He made his Super Rugby debut for the Queensland Reds in South Africa off the bench against the Bulls at the beginning of the 2009 season. Simmons made his test rugby debut for Australia in 2010, playing against South Africa in Brisbane. Simmons scored with a 2nd minute intercept try in Australia's Rugby World Cup 2015 Semi-final win over Argentina. This was the fastest try of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. On 16 January 2015, Simmons, along with teammate

Karmichael Hunt Karmichael Neil Matthew Hunt (born 17 November 1986) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and former player who is the current head coach of the Souths Logan Magpies in the Queensland Cup, as well as the Cook Islands national rugby ...

, were appointed vice-captains of the Queensland Reds. In late 2017, Rob Simmons was axed by the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team based in Brisbane for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union ...

after playing almost ten years of rugby in

. In early 2018, Simmons left the

and joined fellow Australian Super Rugby team, the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

. In July 2020, it was announced that Simmons would join English

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 ...

side

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

ahead of the 2020–21 season.

References

External links

*
Profile
at Rugby.com.au
Reds Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmons, Rob 1989 births Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australian expatriate rugby union players in England Queensland Reds players Rugby union locks Living people People educated at the Southport School Rugby union players from the Gold Coast, Queensland 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players New South Wales Waratahs players ASM Clermont Auvergne players 21st-century Australian sportsmen