James David Simpson-Daniel (born 30 May 1982 in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

) is a former English

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer who played

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or centre for

Gloucester Rugby Gloucester Rugby are a professional rugby union club based in the West Country city of Gloucester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was formed in 1873 and since 1891 has played its home matches ...

. He attended

Red House School Red House School is a co-educational private day school in Norton, Stockton-on-Tees, in the north-east of England. Nursery, Reception and Year 1 are located in a purpose-built unit, whilst Years 2, 3 and 4 are in a Georgian Vicarage. The Pr ...

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school, day school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, North West England. It comprise ...

in the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

, which has produced a number of professional rugby union players including

Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequin F.C., Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup, 20 ...

Will Carling William David Charles Carling (born 12 December 1965) is an English former rugby union player. He was England's youngest captain, aged 22, and won 72 caps from 1988 to 1996, captaining England 59 times. Under his captaincy, England won Five N ...

and

Phil Dowson Phil Dowson (born 1 October 1981) is director of rugby at Northampton Saints. He is a former English rugby union player. He played for Worcester Warriors, Northampton Saints and Newcastle Falcons in the Aviva Premiership. Dowson's position of ...

, with whom he played alongside in the same XV. He began playing for the Yorkshire Under 18s and then the North East Under 18s. His Gloucester Rugby debut was against

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

in 2001, when he scored a superb individual try. He represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competiti ...

in 2002 and scored a hat trick in the final, which England won. He also scored a hat trick in a club game against

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. Four days before his twentieth birthday he rounded

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in the history of the sport, and as one of the most talented sportsm ...

to score a try for England XV against the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. He made his international debut for

against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in November 2002. An injury to his foot meant that he missed a tour to Argentina. He recovered for the Autumn internationals against Australia and New Zealand but was diagnosed with

glandular fever A gland is a cell or an organ in an animal's body that produces and secretes different substances that the organism needs, either into the bloodstream or into a body cavity or outer surface. A gland may also function to remove unwanted substances ...

and missed out on playing against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He was playing again within a few months and was able to be a part of Gloucester Rugby winning the Powergen Cup, in the final of which he started and scored two tries. He narrowly missed selection to the final 30 for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

because of a back problem, although he had celebrated his first

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

start some months earlier with a try in the match against Italy. Injury once again prevented him playing a part in the 2004 Autumn series in November and he missed further game time for the buildup to the 2005 Six Nations. Picked in the centre for England's final 2005 Autumn test against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

but a hip injury forced him off at half-time. In 2006, he made the squad for England's tour of Australia and scored two tries in their win over the Barbarians on 28 May. However, he suffered a dead leg midweek during training, and as a result missed both tests, in which England lost. He suffered a comminuted fracture of his collarbone in a pre-season match for Gloucester Rugby. He was recalled to the England squad for the 2007 Summer Tour of South Africa, alongside club colleagues Andy Hazell, Nick Wood, Iain Balshaw, Anthony Allen and Alex Brown. After Gloucester's 2007–08 season, Simpson-Daniel was named Guinness Premiership Player of The Season beating Olly Barkley and teammate

Akapusi Qera Akapusi Qera (born 24 April 1984) is a Fijian professional rugby union player. A Flanker or No.8. He is married to wife Phillipha Talei and together they have four children. Qera is also from a Christian sporting family; his father was an inte ...

. Simpson-Daniel was called into the

England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emerg ...

squad to face Italy A in

Ragusa, Sicily Ragusa (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,778 inhabitants as of 2025. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, Cava San Leonardo ...

on 9 February 2008. Simpson-Daniel was called into the England squad for the team to face Scotland on 8 March 2008. Called into the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

training squad, on 1 August 2011 Simpson-Daniel was one of five players released by manager Martin Johnson. On 2 September 2014, Simpson-Daniel announced his retirement due to an ongoing ankle injury. Simpson-Daniel is now the marketing director of The Lions Kingdom, an

Ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

meat importer. His brother Charlie is the managing director. His older brother Chris was also a professional rugby player for

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

and Worcester, however his career was curtailed by injury.

References

External links

England profileGloucester Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson-Daniel, James 1982 births Living people England international rugby union players English rugby union players Gloucester Rugby players People educated at Red House School People educated at Sedbergh School Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Stockton-on-Tees