Ed Craig was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in the suburb of Eastwood. He played his junior club rugby at the local Hillview Rugby Club, junior rep rugby with Eastwood Rugby Club and school rugby with Epping Boys High School. He played in the EBHS 1st XV in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and was selected for the Combined High Schools 1st XV and Combined States team in the 2013 Australian Schoolboy Rugby Championships. In 2014, Craig was captain of the CHS 1st XV and selected for the NSW 1st XV which went on to win the national title at the Australian Schoolboy Rugby Championships that year. From there he was selected for the Australian Schoolboys NZ tour in 2014 and was starting hooker in tests against Fiji and New Zealand. Craig was awarded the Volvo Australian Schools Rugby Scholarship in 2014.
Rugby career
Craig was part of the NSW Waratahs Gen Blue squad in 2015 and 2016, and played for NSW in the Australian Super Under 20s Championship in both years. In 2016, he was called into the Australian Under 20s side for the World Rugby U20s Championships in Manchester, England, where he played in Tests against Scotland and NZ. Craig plays club rugby for Eastwood in Sydney's Shute Shield competition. He played in the colts 1st XV in 2014 and 2015, then moved to Grade aged 20. He 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. In 2019 Craig played every game for Eastwood’s 1st Grade side, coming second in the Shute Shield Club Championship and making the semi-finals. 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. His was selected for the Greater Sydney Rams in the National Rugby Competition in 2017 and the new Sydney NRC team in 2019. By round six of the 2019 NRC comp he had 2 tries, 66 tackles, 6 turnovers, 30 carries, 3 clean breaks and a 90% success rate in lineouts. Craig has played 52 first grade games for Eastwood with 14 tries. In February 2020 Craig got his first Super Rugby cap with the Queensland Reds as replacement for injured Reds and Wallabies hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa.
