Damian Cronin (born 17 April 1963 in

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

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

) is a former

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He is an alumnus of

The Campion School The Campion School is a Roman Catholic boys' comprehensive 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 Campio ...

and

Prior Park College Prior Park College is a co-educational public school for both boarding and day pupils in Bath, south-west England. Its main building, Prior Park, stands on a hill overlooking the city and is a Grade I listed building. The adjoining Prior P ...

. 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 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 of British pe ...

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 Int ...

. 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. Th ...

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

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

with his last appearance ten years later against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In all he won 45

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

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 New Zealand.

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 1995 Rugby World Cup players {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-1960s-stub