Ed Craig

Ed Craig

Birth name	Edward James Craig
Date of birth	(1996-07-20) 20 July 1996 (age 25)
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	186 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	108 kg (238 lb; 17 st 0 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 2016– Eastwood () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2017 Greater Sydney Rams 2 (0) 2019 Sydney 7 (10) Correct as of 23 November 2020 Super Rugby Years Team Apps (Points) 2020 Reds 2 (5) 2021 Rebels 2 (0) Correct as of 22 November 2021

Ed Craig (born 20 July 1996) is an Australian rugby union player for the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby team in Australia.^[1] Craig made his Super Rugby debut for the Queensland Reds against the Sunwolves at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in the 2020 Super Rugby competition.^[2] He has played for Australian Schoolboys and Australian Under 20s, and his home club is Eastwood Rugby in Sydney's Shute Shield competition. In 2020 he finished Eastwood's Shute Shield season with a narrow loss to Gordon in the Grand Final. He has also played two seasons for Sydney in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). His position is hooker.

Early life and junior rugby[]

Ed Craig (Edward James Craig) was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in Eastwood. He played junior club rugby with Hillview Rugby Club (now Central Eastwood),^[3] junior rep rugby with Eastwood Rugby Club and school rugby with Epping Boys High School.

He played in the EBHS 1st XV for 3 years (2012-2014) and was selected for the Combined High Schools (CHS) 1st XV and Combined States in the 2013 Australian Schoolboy Rugby Championships.

In 2014, Craig was captain of the CHS 1st XV ^[4] and selected for the NSW 1st XV ^[5] which went on to win the national title at the Australian Schoolboy Rugby Championships.^[6] He was selected for the Australian Schoolboys NZ tour in 2014 ^[7] and played tests against Fiji and New Zealand.^{[8] [9]} Craig was awarded the Volvo Australian Schools Rugby Scholarship in 2014. ^[10]

Rugby career[]

Craig was part of the NSW Waratahs Gen Blue squad and played for NSW in the Australian Super Under 20s Championship.^{[11] [12] [13]} In 2016 he was called into the Australian Under 20s side for the World Rugby U20s Championships in Manchester, England, where he played Tests against Scotland and NZ. ^[14]

Craig plays club rugby for Eastwood in Sydney's Shute Shield competition. He played in the colts 1st XV in 2014 and 2015, then played in 1st and 2nd Grade behind Eastwood’s two contracted NSW Waratah Super Rugby hookers Hugh Roach and Damien Fitzpatrick in 2016, 2017 and 2018. ^[15]

In 2019 Craig was hooker for Eastwood’s 1st Grade side, coming second in the Shute Shield Club Championship and making the semi-finals. ^{[16] [17] [18]} Craig was Eastwood's ‘Rookie of the Year’ in 2017, played in the Shute Shield second grade Grand Final in 2018 and named in Eastwood's 'All Stars' team in 2018. ^{[19] [20] [21]}

His was selected for the Greater Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Competition (NRC) in 2017 and the Sydney NRC team in 2019. ^{[22] [23]} Craig has played 68 first grade games for Eastwood (at end 2020 season) with 20 tries. ^{[24] [25]}

In February 2020 Craig got his first Super Rugby cap ^[2] with the Queensland Reds as replacement for injured Reds and Wallabies hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa.^[26] In October 2020 he finished Eastwood's Shute Shield season with a narrow Grand Final loss to Gordon, and in November signed with the Melbourne Rebels for the 2021 Super Rugby season.^[1]

Outside rugby[]

Craig has a Bachelor of Education (Health and Physical Education) from the University of Sydney. He spent two years teaching Christian Studies and PDHPE, and coaching rugby, at Sydney's Barker College before joining the Melbourne Rebels at the end of 2019.

Super Rugby statistics[]

As of 12 June 2021^[27]

References[]