Craig Gillies (born 6 May 1976) is a former English rugby union player. His final club was Worcester Warriors in the Aviva Premiership. He played as a lock.
| Date of birth | 6 May 1976 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 2.0 m (6 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 160 kg (25 st 3 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Brunel University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gillies was born in Paisley and grew up in Tiverton, Devon. He joined Bath Rugby following a trial in April 1994 and made three first team appearances during the 1995–1996 season.[1] He moved on to join Richmond for the 1997–1998 season[2] with the then Bath coach Andy Robinson feeling that the club's signing of the Argentinian international German Llanes would prevent Gillies from getting the sufficient game time to allow him to fully develop his potential.[3] Gillies moved on to join Llanelli before signing for Gloucester in 2001/02 and then Warriors in the summer of 2002.[4] Whilst at Gloucester he was a replacement in the 2002 Zurich Championship Final (the year before winning the play-offs constituted winning the English title) in which Gloucester defeated Bristol.[5]
Gillies - who is the leading appearance maker at Worcester in the modern era after beating the previous record of 222 held by Tony Windo - was a key part of the unbeaten National Division One promotion winning team of 2003/04.
The giant lock is widely regarded as one of the best line-out takers in the top-flight and won England A honours in 2000.
A leading figure both on and off the field, Gillies made twenty-nine appearances during the 2009/10 campaign – more than any other Warrior.
Gillies excelled again for Warriors in the RFU Championship during 2010/11, making twenty-eight appearances to cement a key role in the pack
The second row agreed a new two-year deal in 2011 and is keen to continue to dominate the airwaves for Warriors.
He retired from Rugby in 2013.
References
edit- ^ Ken Johnstone (Editor), The Recorder – The newsletter of Bath FC (RFU), Issue Number 7, pp. 14, 26 June 1996.
- ^ "Rugby Union: Club-by-club guide to the Allied Dunbar Premiership". The Independent. 23 August 1997. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "Bath stumble under a pack of problems". The Independent. 26 January 1998. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
- ^ "Craig Gillies". Kidderminster Shuttle. 25 June 2002. Retrieved 1 July 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Clockwatch: Bristol v Gloucester". BBC. 8 June 2002. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
- ^ "Gillies stands tall but still he is overlooked". London: Independent. 25 September 2005. Retrieved 1 July 2009.[dead link]