Olly Cracknell’s Resilience Sees Him Live Wales Dream

However, in recent times, that dream of winning an international cap for Wales stopped. He was born in Leeds, but qualifies for Wales through his Welsh grandfather from Llanelli.

Cracknell represented Wales U20s back in 2014, before joining the Wales senior squad three years later for the 2017 Six Nations. But he was never capped, and Wales finished that Championship in fifth place.

That hard-earned moment eventually came for the now Leicester Tigers player last Sunday, when his resilience paid off. “Resilience is something that I have luckily learned from my parents,” said the 31-year-old at the Vale Resort on Tuesday afternoon.

On the motivational side of things, Cracknell talked about watching Welsh actor Michael Sheen on Sky’s League of Their Own, a real rallying cry for Rob Page’s Wales side ahead of the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

From playing in South Africa, to Colwyn Bay for Rygbi Gogleed Cymru, over a century of appearances for the Ospreys, London Irish, and now with the Mattioli Woods Welford Road side in the Gallagher Prem. It’s been some journey, but ultimately, last Sunday, Cracknell simply lived his dream.

"I've always wanted to be here and there was a time when I fell out of favour at the Ospreys that I stopped looking at it and dreaming about it,” he continued.