Simon Morris

Simon Morris, the stylish and elegant former Gloucester centre-cum-winger, bicycled past me today in the Montpellier region of Cheltenham Spa. I was waiting patiently at a roundabout and he cascaded past me from the right and exited stage-left, so to speak. It was his right of way, for heaven’s sake. He still looks as fit as a butcher’s dog and I reckon he could still do a job for the mighty city club. He remains, possibly, S’s all-time favourite Gloucester back to the extent that my earnest and engaging comrade actually expressed a wish that Morris should defect to a more fashionable club back in the nineties to further any international ambitions more keenly. He was a great player though, elusive and flippin’ pacy with cracking hands and a firm sense of the team ethic. I associate him with a splendid period in Gloucester back play when, in the aftermath of the dreadful drubbing in the 1990 Cup Final, a few new players emerged and a few old ones were re-energised. Paul Holford, Neil Matthews, Donald ‘Don’ Caskie and the young full back Mark Mapletoft all, at one time or another, complemented the expansive skills of Simon Morris. That was rather a pleasing period when the pint pots of the cognoscenti started, after a few dismal years, to appear half-full instead of half-empty.