If you had told Piper Simmons 12 months ago that she would be spending almost all of 2026 diving into World XV, it would have surprised the seven star.
However, as the Wallaroos prepare for their final fortnight of action in 2026, when will they play Scotland in the second of their three-match series, the 21-year-old is hungry to make her mark in both codes and has been named to earn her third cap off the bench at Sydney’s Accor Stadium.
Coming straight into the 2024 Australian Women’s Sevens after being part of Australia’s U18 girls’ sevens team that won the Global Youth Sevens title and the 2023 Youth Commonwealth Games gold medal, Simmons has excelled in the short format over the past two years.
But when the opportunity came to play XVs, Simmons was quick to catch the bug, fresh from seeing the successful crossover of Charlotte Caslick and Tia Hinds in 2025.
“If you’d asked me a year ago, the XV wouldn’t even have been in my picture,” Simmons said RugbyPass. “I never got into the XV game.
“But I think right now, (I’m) just trying to become the best rugby player I can be in both rules, make myself available for selection, (and) look to the future, be someone who can make the jump.”
Simmons made her XV debut against Fijiana at the start of the year and has now had the chance to experience all that the XV has to offer, getting the chance to travel to WXV Global Series touring Europe and learning from Hinds and Samantha Wood.
“Firstly it was really cool to be in Europe, it’s such a stunning place and I’m so grateful to be traveling the world as my job,” Simmons added.
“Even if you’re not in that game 23, you’re still there, you’re still training, you’re making an impact and you’re doing your best, whereas sevens can be a little bit different because they only travel 12 or 13 games.
“I’m still very new to the XVs so I’m just grateful to be learning around the group as well. I’ve been a massive sponge for Sammy (Wood) in particular. I’ve had no XVs experience so I’ve really been starting from scratch.”
“I owe a lot to Sammy for where I am today and where I want to be in the future. I’m grateful to have her, I pick her brain. She’s a damn good half.”
As Simmons got the chance to travel to parts of the world she had never been to before with the Wallaroos, she also got the chance to see the squad grow under the new women’s high performance director, her old sevens coach Tim Walsh.
With the party promising against England and France, their second half against Scotland proved significant – something the team will be looking to build on this weekend.
“One of the big takeaways (from that game) is can we keep going for the full 80 minutes,” Simmons explained.
“We saw in other games that we started very well, but then we didn’t succeed in that second half. In the game against Scotland it was the opposite.
“(We’re) trying to stick with the performance for the full 80 minutes and sort out our execution of all the little things, the things we can control, because we know we’re good enough to beat them.”
Being a part of that environment is something Simmons leans towards even more now, after being involved in the inauguration Australia U21 team that will play New Zealand U21 at the end of the month.
With almost 100 players taking part in the inaugural U16 and U19 camps in September and October, Simmons is hungry to reunite with several players she previously played with in the sevens and XV camps.
“I’m so excited about that little campaign,” Simmons added. “It’s such a good initiative that Rugby Australia started with New Zealand.
“It’s going to be so cool, having a bunch of Wallaroos girls, that makes it even better. I watched the U19s (Next Generation XV series), the standard was unbelievable.”
“(D)it’s good to see that there are so many girls who are interested and want to pursue a career in rugby, and reach higher levels. I think we’re going to have a pretty good team. We’ve started getting ready for talks and sorting groups, (the) Zooming in and stuff like that. We’re into it.
“I’m excited (to play) with the other young girls in the Wallaroos program, making combinations with them. I know a few girls through the seven roads, like Maddie Pomeranke, Anaia Cruikshank, Luciana (Vesikula), she played a little Tahs.
“There are some good names that are definitely next generation.”
It’s hard to miss Simmons’ passion to develop as a player, with the 21-year-old buying into the future of Australia’s women’s program under Walsh.
The next few months will be extremely busy for the former Sevens head coach as he prepares to complete the Wallaroos’ transition to a permanent program by the end of the year and be ready to hand over the reins to new head coach Sione Fukofuka in 2027.
Having had time in both codes, the scrum-half has bought into the future, excited about where he can grow as a player in Australia’s rapidly evolving system.
With all four teams playing at the Accor Stadium in one day on Saturday, Simmons is excited about the journey ahead of the LA 2028 Olympic Games for the women as well Rugby World Cup 2029
“I don’t know if it’s ever been done before,” Simmons said of the quadruple header.
“This is a unity that shows that in rugby Australia we are all one. We are all working to be better, to be one.”
“Especially in the women’s area, the collaboration between the Wallaroos and the sevens, the fact that we’re playing behind each other, we’ll be there supporting each other, seeing each other.
“I’m so excited to watch all my teammates in the team of sevens. (I’ll probably have a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out)) but I’m so excited to watch them play as well, especially against New Zealand.”
“The fact that both codes are going to be full-time in Rugby Australia, that’s so exciting for women’s rugby. There are so many avenues I could go down.”
“Honestly, I’m pretty open to anything to get some playing time and just play footy. I’m open to anything, honestly.”
