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'This is the unfortunate side of professional sport': James Cronin quits Munster
Three-cap Ireland prop James Cronin will leave Munster at the end of the season, the 30-year-old believing his career is best served with a move away from the native province he has represented on 142 occasions and scored 20 tries for since making an April 2013 debut versus Leinster.
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Cronin was capped three times off the bench by Schmidt and while Dave Kilcoyne has re-emerged in recent times to re-establish himself, going on to recently start two of Ireland’s last three Guinness Six Nations games, Cronin has remained heavily involved at provincial level under Johann van Graan.
Cronin told the Munster website: “It’s with great regret that I announce my time with Munster will end this summer. It’s been a dream of mine to represent my province since I threw on my first jersey as a six-year-old kid and I take great pride in knowing I have represented my province 142 times and my country on 3 occasions.
“I have made many life-long friends in my time playing here and have learnt so much from some great men, most notably the late Garrett Fitzgerald and Anthony Foley, and I thank everyone that I have worked with from my days in the sub academy to the current day.
“I want to say a special thanks to my family and friends who have always been with me for the highs, but also the lows, that come with professional rugby. To all the Munster fans also a big thank you. I’m excited about my next rugby chapter and giving everything like I have done in my career so far.”
We're coming to that stage of the season where we've to bid farewell to some great people – we'll be sad to see you go James, and wish you all the best for the future!
Thanks for everything you did in red ?#SUAF ?
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) May 18, 2021
Cronin generated unwanted headlines last year shortly after the sport went into lockdown in Ireland for a doping incident in which he supposedly was given the medicines belonging to a different James Cronin at a pharmacy. An EPCR hearing concluded that the prop should serve a one-month ban due to “an unintentional” anti-doping violation.
Munster boss van Graan added: “We are very thankful to James for everything he has done for Munster over his nine-year career with the province. It’s always difficult to lose a homegrown talent of James’ calibre, someone who has always delivered for his home club. This is the unfortunate side of professional sport and the current environment we find ourselves in as we are unable to retain the services of a player of his quality. We wish James all the best for the future.”
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With rugby around the globe indefinitely suspended and fans naturally preoccupied with the pandemic more than the game, this was a bad news story that didn't generate the fuss it would have done in normal circumstances, writes @heagneylhttps://t.co/ggmTbZdmUe
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 23, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments