Tom Croft - International Career

International Career

Croft was called up to the England squad for the 2008 Six Nations Championship. He had already been selected for the England Saxons and England Sevens sides.

He gained his first England cap in the 2008 Six Nations win against France in Paris. He was then named in Martin Johnson's squad on 1 June 2008. He gained starting places in the squad at blindside flanker for three games against the Pacific Islanders, Australia and South Africa, before being named on the bench against New Zealand. Croft was awarded man of the match when England defeated France 34 – 10 at Twickenham in the 2009 Six Nations Championship.

On the 20 May 2009, he was called up to the squad by coach Ian McGeechan for the Lions 2009 tour of South Africa as a replacement for the banned Alan Quinlan.

He then subsequently started the first two tests against South Africa, and came off the bench in the 3rd test. He scored two tries in the first test defeat – becoming the first Lions forward to score twice against the Springboks.

In November 2009, Croft was nominated for the IRB Player of the Year for 2009, though the award went to Richie McCaw. Despite making the short-list and having started the first two games of the Autumn Internationals, Croft found himself demoted to the bench for the third test, against New Zealand. Injury to Joe Worsley saw him take the field within the first five minutes, however.

Croft's second knee injury in the 2009–10 season saw him miss out on the 2010 Six Nations entirely, though he regained his starting place from James Haskell for the Australian summer tour. He switched to openside flanker to cover injured captain Lewis Moody halfway through the second half of the first Test, which England lost 27–17. The second Test saw England beat Australia 20–21. This was only the third time that England had managed to beat Australia in Australia.

He took part in the 2010 Investec Autumn Internationals, starting in both the loss to New Zealand and the win against Australia, the latter cited by many to have been the best England performance for years. In 2011 he was part of the England team that came within a game of a grand slam. 2012 saw Croft play in every single game of that year's Six Nations, His form continued to improve throughout the Championship and he played a starring role in the game against France which saw him score a wonderful try after a searing burst of pace. The last game against Ireland, saw him make a 50 yard burst which almost brought about a try. Croft was ruled out of the rest of Leicester's season after a neck injury. His first try for England came as a replacement for James Haskell against Samoa.

In April 2013, he was selected for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.