Nick Cain: Magician who turned invisible for England

James Simpson-Daniel was one of those players, who, like David Campese and Gerald Davies before him, was touched by the rugby genius that left you wanting more. It is a crying shame that there will be no more magic because, just before the season got underway, the Gloucester maestro announced his retirement at the age of 32 following his failure to recover from a severe ankle injury sustained last November against Newcastle Falcons.
This was the final instalment of a litany of ruptures or breakages that regularly interrupted Simpson-Daniel’s career, because while he was stocky, powerful, and had great acceleration, superb balance, magical hands and mesmeric feet, he was also uncannily injury-prone – and chronically unlucky in terms of timing.
For instance, after a brilliant opening to his England career under Clive Woodward in 2002, including conjuring match-winning tries against New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham, he was sidelined by a back injury and missed out on selection for the 2003 World Cup squad.
However, injuries were not the only reason he won only 10 England caps, and never played in a World Cup – despite a career that spanned three of them – or represented the Lions. There have been many-injury prone players who have been so cherished by their countries that their well-being was considered to be of national importance.
That is not the English way, and the most gifted attacking player of his generation – that rare alchemy of a back with play-making and finishing skills of equal brilliance – was considered too exotic a breed for Red Rose coaches to pin their hopes on.
There were the usual concerns trotted out about whether he was strong enough in defence, and in the doldrum years from 2004 to 2012, when England were hardly blessed with the most inspirational backline on the planet, he was ignored as often as he was injured.
In 2008 he was in sparkling form, and was voted the Premiership Player of the Season, and in 2010 and 2012 he also hit the high notes, and yet he played his last Test for England in the summer before the 2007 World Cup, missing out on that tournament and the one in 2011.
In the absence of Red Rose interest he made Gloucester his main focus, and across 14-seasons as a one-club-man he made more Premiership appearances for them than any other player, scoring 118 tries from 250 starts. That is why he will be remembered as a Kingsholm legend.
I would suggest that had Simpson-Daniel been born in Wales, Australia, New Zealand or Ireland he would have won at least 60 caps and been considered a national rugby treasure.
Any of their national coaches who had not built a backline around his creative talents would have been lambasted, purely on the basis that when a once-in-a-generation player comes along they would be duty-bound to maximise on his special gifts.
When he was picked first for England at 19 in a non-cap game against the Barbarians by Woodward in 2002 ‘Sinbad’ had the audacity to stand-up Percy Montgomery with a dummy-pass to himself before scooting round Jonah Lomu to score.
Soon afterwards I visited Simpson-Daniel’s old school, Sedbergh, and got an insight into how the remarkable sleight of hand that left the Barbarians defence bamboozled and the big man outflanked was perfected.
The then master-in-charge of rugby, Dan Harrison, told me that at school Simpson-Daniel always had a rugby ball with him so that he could perfect his handling skills. He said that one of his tricks was to spin it on a finger on one hand before transferring it, still spinning, to a finger on his other hand.
Harrison added, “I noticed this was wearing out one of the letters on the ball, and mentioned it. James told me that he had a ball at home where, through constant practice of the trick, he had actually worn through the casing.”
After he was overlooked by Martin Johnson in 2011, Simpson-Daniel must have thought he had a chance of an Indian summer to his England career by bringing a touch of world-class play-making to Stuart Lancaster‘s fledgling side.
It was another missed opportunity, with Lancaster unconvinced and picking him in the Saxons instead.
To me, although he was an exceptional wing who would have done wonders in a position the England head coach has struggled to get right, ‘Sinbad’ was the great outside-centre that England never had, a natural heir in terms of pace, skill and opportunism to Jeremy Guscott.
There is myriad evidence to support this on You Tube, up to and including early last season when a classic Simpson-Daniel shimmy and one-handed pass out of the tackle carved out a try for Elliot Stooke against Northampton.
On Friday night instead of playing he was on the sidelines working as a television comments man, watching as Gloucester were thrashed by Saints in their Premiership opener at Franklin’s Gardens. He sounded bemused by Gloucester’s lack of inspiration, but the rest of us weren’t.
Quite simply, there was no James Simpson-Daniel.
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on September 7.