My Life in Rugby: Chris Cracknell – former England Sevens star

I’ve always been a bit of a nomad so playing Sevens around the world for 10 years suited me. In so many respects I have Ben Ryan to thank for that. I’m a builder by trade, but it’s a Cambridge University graduate who has dug me out of quite a few holes!
I was seriously contemplating packing in rugby following three seasons of ‘A’ team rugby at Harlequins when Ben asked me if I wanted to go full-time with Newbury.
From there I got a deal with Cornish Pirates and I had an absolutely brilliant first season, my best in 15s. We were well-resourced by Dicky Evans, had some great coaches and a brilliant squad that would do anything for each other. After winning in the snow at Headingley on a bitterly cold Friday night we made it through to the final of the EDF Cup and beat Exeter at Twickenham.
Jim McKay was such a meticulous coach. He would often come round to watch the rugby on TV and a two-hour show would last five hours because he’d pause and rewind the action all the time to analyse each play.
It was a memorable year on the Sevens front with England too. We beat New Zealand twice in two finals, once in Wellington (19-17) and once in London, 23-21, after coming back from 21-0 down. Not many Englishmen can say they’ve beaten New Zealand more times than they’ve lost.
At that point I still had aspirations to play in the Premiership and Exeter appeared to offer the better route to get there. However my Sevens commitments meant I hardly ever played for the Chiefs. Bath offered me a short-term deal and I got to play in the Heineken Cup.
Playing Ulster in Belfast was definitely one to tick off the rugby bucket list, and taking on a Stade Francais team that featured my old Maidenhead junior rugby team-mate, James Haskell, was pretty special, too.
My final 15s season was with Worcester and ended under a cloud. We had been relegated on the pitch at Leeds when I saw my brother and dad in an altercation in the crowd and, as any family member would do, I stepped in to help them out.
I woke up to a phone call from Ben Ryan, saying ‘Crackers, what the hell have you done?’ Sadly that proved to be my last game in the longer format.
My ban served, Ben signed me up as England’s first full-time contracted Sevens player after I’d turned down an offer from Boland in South Africa. The 2010 Common- wealth Games in Delhi was a wonderful experience but we just missed out on the bronze medal to South Africa after conceding a try on the last play of the game.
For me playing Sevens for England was the best job in the world. You got paid for the privilege of representing your country in some brilliant places around the world. When it was taken away from me by two serious knee injuries a year apart, I felt in a dark place.
During the first spell of rehab Ben invited to help out with the Fijian forwards and it was great to be involved in their second Series title win.
Rosslyn Park then offered me a contract for the 2014/15 season, but my knee wasn’t 100 per cent right and I wasn’t convinced that I would be returning for the right reasons if I took them up on it. So, instead, I find myself over in Fiji assisting Ben with the men’s Sevens teams while heading up the women’s programme.
For a bloke who was kicked out of school aged 15 with no GCSEs, things have turned out all right and I’m looking forward to being involved at the Olympics. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I just never thought it would be with Fiji!