Damian Cronin (born 17 April 1963 in

Wegberg Wegberg (; li, Berk ) is the northernmost town in the district of Heinsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Wegberg is situated between Mönchengladbach in the northeast and Erkelenz in the southeast; the town of Rheindahlen is to ...

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) is a former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

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.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He is an alumnus of

Campion School, Hornchurch The Campion School is a Roman Catholic boys' secondary school and coeducational sixth form in Hornchurch, London, England. The school converted to academy status in August 2011, and has a specialism in science. History The Campion School was f ...

and

Prior Park College Prior Park College is a mixed Roman Catholic public school for both day and boarding students. Situated on a hill overlooking the city of Bath, Somerset, in southwest England, Prior Park has been designated by Historic England as a Grade I li ...

. Before the advent of professionalism, Cronin played for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

and London Scottish. When the Rugby World Cup of 1995 began Cronin was playing for the French club Bourges.

Provincial and professional career

Cronin played for the

Anglo-Scots Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...

district in the

Scottish Inter-District Championship The Scottish Inter-District Championship is a rugby union competition between regional sides in Scotland. Established in 1953, the tournament went through several formats. The Scottish Rugby Union confirmed in January 2023 that the Scottish In ...

. When

turned professional, Cronin played for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

International career

He qualified for Scotland based on his grandparents from Musselburgh. He was capped by Scotland 'B' against Italy in 1988. He was capped by Scotland 'A' 8 times between 1990 and 1996. Playing in the second row, he was part of the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

winning side in 1990. He made his Scotland debut 16 January 1988 against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

with his last appearance ten years later against

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. In all he won 45

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and scored 5 tries. He played in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups whilst being a member of London Scottish. Cronin had a reputation as a prankster. This anecdote from the ''Glasgow Herald'' in 1998 is described as the 'crowning moment' of his career:

That occasion was 1995 in Paris when Scotland beat France for the first and only time at the modern Parc des Princes. However, for Cronin the day's highlight came when the crowning moment in his career as a serial prankster arrived at the post-match dinner. Gavin Hastings, buoyant having scored the try which clinched that win, had asked Cronin, then playing in France with Bourges, to help him write his speech so he could make it in French. The direct translation of what was read out does not bear repetition, but suffice to say there was widespread shock among his hosts at the frankness of the Scotland captain's account of how he had spent the hours between the game finishing and getting to the function.

He was also a British and Irish Lion as he went on the 1993 tour to

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Business career

He is a Director at Woodstone, a wood and stone floor-fitting company.https://uk.linkedin.com/in/damian-cronin-53a84924

References

External links

Wasps Legends profileSporting heroes
1963 births Living people Scottish rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Scotland international rugby union players London Scottish F.C. players People educated at Prior Park College Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Bath Rugby players Wasps RFC players Scottish Exiles (rugby union) players Scotland 'A' international rugby union players Rugby union locks {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub