Jordan Crane (rugby union)

Jordan Crane
Full name Jordan Stephen Crane
Date of birth (1986-06-03) 3 June 1986
Place of birth Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 109 kg (17 st 2 lb) [1]
School South Bromsgrove High School
Colston's School
Rugby union career
Current status
Current team Leicester Tigers
Playing career
Position Number eight / Flanker / Lock
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2004–2006
2006–		 Yorkshire Carnegie
Leicester Tigers		 29
219		 (25)
(150)
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2007–
2008–		 England Saxons
England
3
0(0)

Jordan Crane (born 3 June 1986 in Bromsgrove) is a professional Rugby Union player, who currently plays for Leicester Tigers having moved from Yorkshire Carnegie at the end of the 2005–06 season. Crane has also played internationally for England.

Crane is renowned for his impressive physique and powerful runs from the base of the scrum. He consistently ranks as one of the most frequent carriers of the ball in English club rugby.[2]

He switched to playing rugby union relatively late after playing football for a number of professional clubs' junior sides.[3]

Club career

Crane made his debut for his former club, Leeds Tykes, in the nine-all draw at FC Grenoble in the European Challenge Cup in October 2004 aged just 18.[4] He went on to make 29 appearances for the Tykes in all competitions scoring five tries, including a hat trick against Valladolid RAC in the European Challenge Cup.[5]

After Leeds were relegated in the 2005–06 season, Crane left the club to sign for the Leicester Tigers.[6]

In the Heineken Cup semi-final match against Cardiff Blues on 3 May 2009, Crane scored the winning kick in the penalty shootout after the game had finished level after extra time.[7] It was the first time a Heineken Cup tie had been decided in a shootout. Crane started in the subsequent 2009 Heineken Cup Final.[8] Crane scored the only try in the final of the 2008–09 Guinness Premiership.[9] Crane spent the whole of the 2011-12 Aviva Premiership campaign injured.

International career

Crane made his U21 debut in February 2006 scoring a try against Wales at Worcester,[10] and he was an ever-present in their successful U21 Grand Slam campaign.[11] This was his second successive age group Grand Slam, as he had captained England’s U19 side to success the season before.[12] Crane has also captained England at U18 level and took over the leadership role when his new team-mate, Matt Cornwell, was injured during the 2006 IRB U21 World Cup in France,[13] fulfilling the promise shown when competing for Colston's School in the final of the Daily Mail U18 Cup competition at Twickenham.

Crane was selected in the England Saxons squad for the 2006–07 season,[14] and went on to compete at the 2007 Churchill Cup.[15] Crane also played in the 2008 Churchill Cup, winning the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.[16]

On 1 June 2008 he was named in Martin Johnson's Elite Player Squad and made his debut as a replacement against South Africa.[17] He was returned to the Saxons squad when Johnson chose to retain Nick Easter for the 2009 Six Nations.[18] Crane won his second cap against Argentina at Old Trafford.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Aviva Premiership Rugby - Gloucester Rugby". web page. Premier Rugby. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Opta stats – carries". Guinness Premiership. 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  3. ↑ Crane, Jordan. "The path from cobblers blues and baggies to rugby". Living Rugby. Retrieved 2012.
  4. ↑ "Grenoble 9 – 9 Leeds Tykes". ERC Rugby. 2004-10-23. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  5. ↑ "121–0!". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2004-12-06. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  6. ↑ "Tigers capture Crane from Leeds". BBC. 2006-05-06. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  7. ↑ "Cardiff Blues 26–26 Leicester (aet)". BBC. 2009-05-03. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  8. ↑ "Leicester 16–19 Leinster". BBC. 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  9. ↑ "Leicester 10–9 London Irish". BBC. 2009-05-16. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  10. ↑ "England U21 26–18 Wales U21". BBC. 2006-02-04. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  11. ↑ "England U21s take Grand Slam". BBC. 2006-03-17. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  12. ↑ "Eight-try England take historic U19 Grand Slam victory in style". RFU. 2005-03-11. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  13. ↑ "England U21 team for tough New Zealand test". RFU. 2006-06-12. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  14. ↑ "Voyce dropped from England elite". BBC. 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  15. ↑ "England Saxons 17–13 NZ Maori". BBC. 2007-06-02. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  16. ↑ "England Saxons put Scots to sword to retain Barclays Churchill Cup". RFU. 2008-06-21. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
  17. ↑ "England 6–42 South Africa". BBC. 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
  18. ↑ "BBC report on changes to elite player squad". BBC. 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
  19. ↑ "England 37–15 Argentina". BBC. 2009-06-06. Retrieved 2009-08-21.

External links

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