Chris Cracknell (born 6 August 1984 in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

, England) is a former England

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He coached the Fijiana team after being brought in by Ben Ryan in 2014. Cracknell attended Ridgeway (Junior School to Claires Court),

Crosfields School Shinfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, just south of Reading. It contains and is administered by the unitary authority of Wokingham District. Shinfield Park is the northern part of the parish, becoming p ...

and

Shiplake College ("The Example Teaches") , established = 1959 , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , head_label = Headmaster , head ...

. The latter now hosts a 7s tournament in which schools compete for the 'Cracknell Cup' named in honour of the alumnus. A flanker, Cracknell has previously played for the

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates ( kw, An Vorladron Gernewek) are a professional rugby union team who play in the Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newlyn ...

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

, Bath and

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

. In May 2010 Cracknell became subject of a WRFC and RFU investigation, when he became involved in an altercation with fellow Worcester player James Collins's father following the team's relegation decider match with

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. He was later fined and banned. In 2015, Fiji Rugby Union confirmed that he has been chosen to be the assistant coach for the Fiji 7's team alongside Ben Ryan, who became the Fiji coach in 2013. In 2015, he was promoted as the head coach for the Fijiana team. In 2022, Cracknell was named as the Belgium national team's coach, taking over from Frédéric Cocqu.

Honours and awards

After the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, Cracknell was awarded the Officer of the Order of Fiji.

References

External links

Worcester Warriors ProfileEngland Profile
1984 births Living people Bath Rugby players Coaches of international rugby sevens teams Commonwealth Games rugby sevens players of England English expatriates in Fiji English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Officers of the Order of Fiji People educated at Claires Court School Rugby sevens players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Rugby union players from Windsor, Berkshire Worcester Warriors players {{English-rugbyunion-bio-stub