Craig Clare (born 19 August 1984) is a New Zealand

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 who currently plays for

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

in the

Heartland Championship The Heartland Championship competition, known for sponsorship reasons as the Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship, is a domestic rugby union competition in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 as one of two successor competitions to the countr ...

. He also played for the Highlanders in the

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

competition, before a broken leg stalled his career and caused a long injury layoff.

Playing career

New Zealand

Clare made his debut for Manawatu in 2003, and spent two seasons for the province before transferring to

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in 2005 in the hopes of earning a

contract with the Highlanders. After a strong

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Clare was included in the Highlanders squad for the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The ...

. Aged only 22, his Super Rugby career was off to a highly promising start as he started 4 of the team's first 5 games of the season. However, his career came to a crashing halt on 2 March in a game against the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

when he suffered a compound fracture to his leg. Clare's leg injury forced a two-year layoff from the sport, and he didn't play again until 2009. After a stint in Italy, Clare returned to New Zealand in 2010 and signed back with Manawatu. He proceeded to start all 13 games of the 2010 season for the Turbos, primarily at his preferred position of fullback. Clare signed for

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

in 2015. He joined

(2nd tier) team Steelform Wanganui in 2016.

Europe

After a long injury layoff, Clare returned to high level rugby in 2009, signing with

Rugby Viadana Rugby Viadana 1970 is an Italian rugby union club based in Viadana (province of Mantua, Lombardy). The club was established in 1970, and has since won the Italian championship in 2002, and the Coppa Italia three times. They also compete in Europ ...

of the Italian Super 10 (now

Top12 The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2019� ...

). He enjoyed a solid season in Italy, but fell victim to import restrictions when the club joined the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

Aironi Aironi Rugby (, "herons") was an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the Pro12 and the Heineken Cup, representing the Italian regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. It lost its status as a regional side at the end of the 2011–12 ...

. Clare spent the 2010–11 season with Spanish side

Bera Bera RT Bera Bera Rugby Taldea is a Spanish rugby union club. The club was established in 1983 and currently competes in the División de Honor B de Rugby competition, the second-level of Spanish club rugby. The club are based in Donostia-San Sebastian ...

before returning to Manawatu again for the 2011 provincial campaign in New Zealand. In 2013 he signed with Russian club Krasny Yar on a 6-month contract.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clare, Craig 1984 births Living people Rugby union players from Palmerston North New Zealand rugby union players Manawatu rugby union players Otago rugby union players Bay of Plenty rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in Italy Rugby Viadana players Rugby union centres Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk players Expatriate rugby union players in Russia People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School