Simon Danielli

Simon Danielli

Full name	Simon Charles Jonathan Danielli
Date of birth	(1979-09-08) 8 September 1979
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Height	6 ft 4.5 in (1.94 m)
Weight	16 st 1 lb (102 kg)
School	Cheltenham College
University	Oxford University
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing Current team Ulster Rugby Correct as of 19 October 2011

Simon Charles Jonathan Danielli (born 8 September 1979 in Edinburgh) is a retired rugby union player who plays on the wing for Ulster and Scotland.

Early life

Danielli - Italian family origin - was educated at Cheltenham College and achieved a Upper Second Class Degree in Philosophy and Theology at Oxford University (Trinity College). At Oxford he was awarded two rugby union Blues playing in the Varsity Match against Cambridge in 1999 and 2000.

Rugby career

Danielli represented England Students and Under 21s. However, in January 2003 he opted to play for Scotland. He made his international debut against Italy during the World Cup warm-up match in August 2003 scoring a try. In his first start of the 2003 Rugby World Cup against the USA, when he scored two tries in a Scottish victory and went on to impress throughout the 2003 Rugby World Cup tournament. He also scored a try in his Murrayfield Six Nations debut against England in 2004.

Danielli joined The Borders from Bath in September 2004, where he had been since the summer of 2001, prior to which he played for Bristol Shoguns.

He dropped out of the international picture in 2005, but was recalled to the Scotland squad for the 2006 Six Nations championship. With the Borders club being disbanded by the SRU in 2007 Danielli moved to Ulster. He was also picked as part of the Scotland 2007 World Cup training squad.

He is currently playing for the Irish province Ulster, struggling to regularly break into the Scottish first-fifteen due to competition from the likes of the Lamont brothers and Chris Paterson.

However, he returned to the international scene on 28 February 2009 (against Italy in the Six Nations) with a try-scoring man of the match performance. He would continue to start throughout this campaign. After injury he returned to the Scotland team again for the match against Italy during the 2010 Six Nations Championship. Despite Danielli having few starts for Scotland in the run up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup he started in Scotland's opening game against Romania, scoring two tries in the 75th and 78th minutes saving Scotland from an embarrassing defeat. His try scoring feats for Ulster have not gone un-noticed with IRB stating he was close to making the IRB player of the year list in 2009. His rate of nearly a try every two games makes him one of the most dangerous wingers in the Magners League. Danielli announced his retirement from professional rugby on 10 May 2012, after an injury disrupted 2011/12 season where he has failed to achieve fitness after a series of back injuries.

External links

• Ulster profile
• Scotland profile