Joe Simmonds

Joe Simmonds captained Exeter to the European Cup in 2020 at twenty-three, the youngest man ever to do it. He kicked every goal he attempted in the final, a 31-27 win over Racing 92, and finished the tournament as its leading scorer with 95 points. His brother Sam was its leading try-scorer.

Fly-half at Pau, 1.82m and 94kg, and 29 years old.

He is from Teignmouth in Devon, the son of a fisherman and a hairdresser, and started at the local club with Sam. Choosing fly-half broke the family pattern: his father, his uncle and his brother all played in the back row. Exeter took him from Ivybridge Community College in 2015.

Loans to Taunton and Plymouth Albion came first, then a domestic cup final alongside Sam in 2017, lost to Leicester, and another the year after, won 28-11 against Bath with Joe scoring thirteen.

The 2019-20 season was the peak of it. He took the captaincy during the European pool stage and kept it to the final, and eight days later started the Premiership final against Wasps and scored 14 of his side’s 19 points in a 19-13 win. At 23 he had completed the double.

What the record does not show is how quickly it all happened. A Premiership regular at twenty and a European Cup-winning captain at twenty-three, he was out of England contention throughout, and has never been capped despite two seasons as the best-performing fly-half in the English league.

Another final followed in 2021, lost 40-38 to Harlequins with Simmonds scoring thirteen. He left after seven seasons and more than a thousand points for the club, joining Pau in 2023 and starting in the Top 14 immediately, helped through the language by his compatriot Dan Robson.