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Clermont pick up Wallabies centre Simone
By Ian Cameron
According to reports in France, Clermont have secured the signing of former Wallabies centre Irae Simone from the Brumbies.
The 193cm and 103kg centre is reported by Midi Olympique and RMC Sport to have agreed terms with the Top 14 giants.
Although he had some squad involvement in 2021, it's thought the 26-year-old is no longer in the picture for Dave Rennie's Wallabies.
Jonno Gibbes is attempting to shore up the Clermont midfield, which is set to lose 6'2, 105kg Tani Vili to rival Bordeaux Begles.
Simone arrived in Canberra from Sydney in 2018 and played his first season for the Brumbies in 2019, featuring in 16 of the Brumbies' 18 Super Rugby fixtures, starting both the quarter-final and the semi-final.
A former New Zealand Schoolboys Under-18s representative, Simone moved to Australia in 2014, spending two years at NRL club South Sydney before returning to rugby at Norths in Sydney's Shute Shield competition.
It was in there in Norths' 2016 Premiership year he was named Rookie of the Year, before stand out performances in the NRC landed him at the Waratahs for the 2017 and 2018 Super Rugby seasons.
Since his arrival in Canberra, Simone has also represented the Canberra Vikings in the NRC and is affiliated with the Uni-Norths Owls in the John I Dent Cup.
Simone developed a formidable midfield pairing alongside Tevita Kuridrani in 2019.
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They also use a far more consistent scale.
Rugby pass seem to have a different scale for each player based on the authors expectations or how much he likes them.
Can't fathom how Moodie and Reece both were a 3.
Go to commentsYes for sure, thanks for sharing. I fully understand that both parties are better off, no one needs to lose, neither competition suffers, in fact both can be better as a result.
Too many true rugby fans (and analysts) don't understand that.
I wouldn't imagine there is a date aye. It was a long decline rugby in SA and Australia was going through, and was so bad it even effected NZ, caused them to argue to can a couple of teams. The nation of SA probably grew into it? I know I watch more of the NH now specifically because of the SR teams playing there. I actually had to mention to Nick Bishop (because of his stubborn perspective) the other day that I've never been a fan of Super Rugby, I don't think they chose the right way to go about professionalism back in 1995. Unfortunately, NZR was stuck between a rock and a hard place, because it had SA's and Australians that ran their unions by States, so we had to separate into "two or three" teams as a result. Our game is in the kak now because of it, they want to kill off the lifeblood of our National Provincial Championship. But now we might see a way out of it, so it's all good.
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