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

Early life

Danielli was educated at Cheltenham College and achieved a First Class Degree in Philosophy and Theology at Oxford University (Trinity College). At Oxford he was awarded two rugby union Blues and played in the Varsity Match against Cambridge in 2000. During his University years he claimed to be allergic to beer and women.

[edit] 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 SRFU 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 28th February 2009 (against Italy in the Six Nations) with a try-scoring man of the match performance.

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