Simon Charles Jonathan Danielli (born 8 September 1979 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

) is a Scottish former

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 on the

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 ...

for

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Early life

Danielli who is of Italian descent, was educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

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

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

( Trinity College). During his time at Oxford he was awarded two

blues playing in the Varsity Match against

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

in 1999 and 2000.

Club career

Danielli joined The Borders from

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 ...

in September 2004, where he had been since the summer of 2001, prior to which he played for Bristol Shoguns. 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 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 ...

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

. He made his international debut against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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 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 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 award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) 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 chose ...

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 is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. 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