Simon Charles Jonathan Danielli (born 8 September 1979 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

) is a Scottish former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

footballer who played on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

for

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Early life

Danielli who is of Italian descent, was educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Hugget ...

and achieved an upper second class degree in philosophy and theology at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

(

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

). During his time at Oxford he was awarded two

blues playing in the

Varsity Match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...

against

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in 1999 and 2000.

Club career

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 Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

. With the Borders club being disbanded by the SRU in 2007 Danielli moved to

. His try scoring feats for Ulster did not go un-noticed with the 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 made him one of the most dangerous wingers in the Magners League.

International career

Danielli represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Students and Under 21s. However, in January 2003 he opted to play for

. He made his international debut against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

during the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

warm-up match in August 2003 scoring a try. In his first start of the 2003 Rugby World Cup against the US, when he scored two tries in a Scottish victory and went on to impress throughout the 2003 World Cup tournament. He also scored a try in his

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

Six Nations debut against

in 2004. He dropped out of the international picture in 2005, but was recalled to the Scotland squad for the 2006 Six Nations championship. He was also picked as part of the Scotland 2007 World Cup training squad. He struggled 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 In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

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.

Retirement

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.

Personal life

Danielli was married to Olivia Danielli. They have three children. The couple married in 2009 and separated in 2014. In April 2015, Danielli assaulted Michael Browne, suspecting him of having an affair with his wife Olivia Danielli. He was fined £500 in April 2017. In November 2015, he tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

. In August 2015, Danielli's estranged wife Olivia Danielli damaged his car, for which she was fined £500 and ordered to pay £1,800 in damage repair costs. This was challenged in 2017, with the defence claiming the car was legally the property of Olivia Danielli.

References

External links

Simon Danielli
Ulster Rugby (Archived)
Scotland profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danielli, Simon 1979 births Living people Scottish rugby union players Rugby union wings Ulster Rugby players Bristol Bears players Bath Rugby players Oxford University RFC players People educated at Cheltenham College Italian Scottish rugby union players Rugby union players from Edinburgh Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Scotland international rugby union players Border Reivers players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players