Former Worcester Warriors scrum-half Gareth Simpson has asked for help from British Transport Police in the hope of locating his missing, suspected stolen, bag from the Barbarians.
The mystery of what exactly happened to him has been going on for more than a week, ever since Simpson left to return home to Worcester from London at 2.50pm from Paddington.
He had disappeared by the time it came for him to get off the Great Western Railway train two and a half hours later at Worcestershire Parkway – and Simpson has since caught on social media in order to recover this precious asset.
“I really appreciate all the posts and the tweets,” he told BBC Hereford & Worcester. “It really went very far.
“But I have spoken to a few people, who are in direct contact with British Transport Police, and they are now looking at the CCTV footage.”
The England-born South African is particularly proud of the bag he picked up after his first call-up from the Barbarians last month – a proud honor for any rugby player.
And the loss of personal content within hit him.
“It was really for sentimental reasons that I wanted to reach out,” he said.
“I had Christmas presents in there, although it’s not the end of the world. We’re living in tough times, there’s a cost of living crisis. What if anyone really needed a money at this point, I could have given him stuff to help get them out.
“But really, it’s just sentimental things, like a sweater that was given to me by my grandfather.
“The bag is black, with wheels at the bottom, Gilbert branding, a large Barbarians logo printed on the back and a small number 34 printed on the top. That was my squad number.”
Simpson was part of a Baa-baas squad of former Wasps and Warriors players for three encounters with Premiership sides Bath, Harlequins and Northampton last month – encounters ironically arranged to help fill the void left by the disappearance of Wasps and Worcester this season.
Wasps had seven former players in the squad – Elliott Stooke, Gabriel Oghre, Jacob Umaga, Kieran Brookes, Tim Cardall, Tom Cruse and Francois Hougaard, who also previously played for Worcester.
And Simpson, who scored during a brief stint with the Saracens early last month was joined by two other former unteamed Warriors, Graham Kitchener and Murray McCallum.
“It’s been a tough few months,” he said. “And it was great to have those two opportunities.
“But it looks like I will now have Christmas leave which is actually a blessing. It’s nice not to have to worry about rugby for once and to be able to spend some time with my family.”
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