Simpson-Daniel to dazzle Thomond with array of tricks

JAMES SIMPSON-DANIEL sounds like an entire back division, and sometimes he plays like one.

He can multi-task in the same outlandish way as Jason Robinson, produce many of the sublime footballing feats of Will Greenwood and finds his way to the try line with as much regularity as Ben Cohen.

One of Europe's most potent attacking weapons will take his vast array of tricks to Limerick next weekend, fortified with a cast-iron certainty that Gloucester can emerge from Thomond Park with their unmentionables intact.

Although Simpson-Daniel has now scored against every pool opponent in this season's competition including a mesmerising effort against Treviso and two utterly exceptional tries against Bourgoin, not to mention his slip and slide against Munster last Saturday, recent memories of Ireland have Gloucester reaching for the smelling salts.

Simpson-Daniel was the star turn last season when they got kicked all the way back to Kingsholm following their European dismemberment, and he is determined the same fate does not befall his mates on Saturday, despite a Pool Five advantage that borders on the criminal.

"We don't want to mess up this one and feel the pain of last year again," said Simpson-Daniel immediately after he had kept his Heineken Cup scoring record intact last Saturday.

"What happened last time will live with me for the rest of my career and we don't want to go through that again. I don't know if the video will be played back this week, but I am sure it will be mentioned, it has to be.

"We didn't click at all and got well beaten and I never want to experience it again."

Simpson-Daniel is in the richest of form just now, not only the hottest thing in the Zurich Premiership but also in Europe.

Although Henry Paul emerged with much of the credit for his contribution last weekend during Gloucester's 22-11 victory, the England winger is in the form of his life.

It is not only his try scoring that has delighted Gloucester's director of rugby Nigel Melville, but his outstanding defence and awareness. If Munster fail to close down his space again, he will cause serious damage.

"We knew how tough it would be last weekend and we just wanted to win.

"We stuck to what we wanted to do and got a fantastic result," he said.

"But we need to be more aware than we were last season and have the confidence to go out and play the way we want to. We cannot afford to make as many mistakes because we will be punished.

"We got a fantastic result last weekend, but we know what is ahead of us"

Meanwhile, Wasps' Irish flanker Jonny O'Connor has won the Zurich Premiership player of the month award for December. O'Connor was man-of-the-match when Wasps beat Saracens just before Christmas.