Eager Cronin ready for the next level

A MONTH after celebrating his 24th birthday, Sean Cronin is set to achieve another significant milestone in his burgeoning rugby career.

Having grown up a short distance from Thomond Park and attended nearby Árd Scoil Rís, he always had a close affinity with the famous stadium and used to dream of playing there in an Irish jersey.

While Cronin won’t know until tomorrow morning whether he is in Declan Kidney’s plans for Friday night’s Ireland-Barbarians game (for which no caps are awarded), he is sure to see some game time, something he would dearly love, not just for himself but for family and friends in Limerick.

“A packed house at Thomond Park always makes for a great night,” he enthused. “Obviously, I played a lot of my rugby there at underage and with Shannon. But, if I am selected, I have to put all of that to one side and try and prepare myself for the game.”

It is recent history how Cronin was snapped up by the Munster academy following on a glittering schools career before deciding his immediate future would be best served moving up the road to Galway where he was more likely to gain more game time. It seems only a matter of time before he is heading back down the N18, but for now he has no regrets, having played a major part in Connacht’s highly successful season and earning his international spurs as a replacement against Fiji and Wales.

“I had to weigh up my options at the time,” he relates. “Deccy (Declan Kidney) was manager of Munster and I had a chat with him and looked at what the best option would be. There was a lot of competition at hooker in Munster and they were going extremely well, winning Heineken Cups and pushing for Magners and so on.

“So I had to be honest with myself and I’m happy I made the decision to go to Connacht. It has worked out well for me. Last season did go well for us, we had a good run in the Challenge Cup and were a little unlucky against Toulon in the semi-final. We played some quality teams, Montpellier away, Bourgoin and Toulon... they are big, physical French teams and I think that helped in terms of stepping up to international rugby.

“But our Magners form, especially away from home, was ropey. At the end of the day, we still finished at the bottom of the table while Heineken Cup rugby is where we want to be.”

Cronin enjoyed his time at Connacht under Michael Bradley and is now looking forward to working with Eric Elwood. As for the one-year contract applying to everyone at the province, he isn’t unduly bothered given that’s the way he has operated ever since first playing there.

Inevitably, the question of returning some day to his native heath came up and Cronin was admirably candid while careful to also pledge his loyalty to Connacht while he is their player: “Munster is close to my heart. I was in the academy there, I got a few caps with the seniors, and fellas I was in the academy with are now pushing into the senior set-up, Tommy O’Donnell, Dave Ryan, Duncan Williams, Billy Holland, these kinds of guys. I have seen them on TV and it’s good to watch and hard to watch at the same time. I’m never going to say never about coming back.”

With Rory Best out of the tour and uncertainty surrounding Jerry Flannery’s fitness, Cronin has to be close to a start against either the All Blacks or Australia. He is aware of that, but he’s an unassuming young man. “I know John Fogarty is coming into the squad as well and John has had an excellent year, so in terms of selection, I’ll just have to hopefully put my best foot forward and try to give them some headaches in terms of selection.”

As for the Barbarians, he mused: “Watching them against England they have fantastic players. They have attacking threats all over. Our defence will have to be top notch, they’ll be coming at us from everywhere and it will be difficult to defend. We’ll have to put pressure on them at the breakdown and impose our game. If I’m selected, it will be a huge opportunity.”

As for the prospect of taking on such powerful opposition as the All Blacks and the Wallabies, he accepted “There’s a conveyor belt of quality players down there – they just keep churning them out year after year. I had a quick look at the New Zealand squad and it’s full of quality. They are not No 1 in the world for nothing.”