‘We were his guys’: past players pay tribute to late ex-Hong Kong rugby coach George Simpkin
- Ex-Hong Kong sevens and 15s hooker Gary Cross tells the story of how Simpkin helped him remove the fear of facing big-name players
- Cross, Stuart Krohn and Rodney McIntosh were among the players who visited Simpkin in New Zealand last year after learning about his illness
Gary Cross had just shared a hotel lift with hulking giants Mesake Rasari, of Fiji, and New Zealand’s Zinzan Brooke. At under six-foot, he was feeling a bit inadequate ahead of the Hong Kong Sevens.
“I don’t think they even noticed me until I got out,” he said. Some time later, Hong Kong coach George Simpkin offered some advice.
“He asked me if I was feeling a bit intimidated by facing big names. I said ‘yes’,” said Cross, who was probably closest to Simpkin in the 90s having played for him and worked under him at the Hong Kong Rugby Union (HKRU).
“George said, ‘I want you to do something, take down all the jerseys of famous players you have hanging around your house. Go on, take them down. I don’t want you to see your opponents as big names but simply as professional players’.”
After Cross retired from playing, he was invited to Simpkin’s residence in Hong Kong. “That was his inner sanctum,” said Cross. “You wouldn’t go there as one of his players, only after you retired.
“So I walk in and I see all these jerseys of famous players hanging on his walls. I looked at him and he said. ‘for you, not for me!’
