Scotland lock Damian Cronin, whose forty-fifth Test appearance came in the Calcutta Cup match in March, has announced his retirement from rugby at the age of 35.

His international career spanned a decade since his debut against Ireland in 1988. However, with his current contract with Wasps, whom he helped to the English title in 1995, due to run out this weekend, he underwent a fourth knee operation in August and subsequent medical advice was to stop playing.

''There's a mixture of frustration and relief,'' Cronin said, before heading off to the International Board conference in Vancouver yesterday as the player's representative in the SRU delegation.

''I would have liked to have tried to make it to the World Cup, and it will be strange to stop having played rugby for the last 25 years. However, at least there is the satisfaction of having had such a good final season, regaining my place in the Scotland side for the Five Nations' Championship.''

It is quite ironic that, barring a dramatic recall for fellow-exile Paul Burnell, Cronin was the last survivor at Test level of the Scotland pack which won the 1990 Grand Slam.

Throughout his career, his jack-the-lad manner which helped earn him the nickname, ''Del Boy,'' in which he revelled, often saw his attitude questioned.

Indeed that approach was summed up with his tongue-in-cheek observation during the dying days of amateurism at the 1995 World Cup: ''If it wasn't for the fags and booze what a player I'd be.''

That was just two years after he toured New Zealand with the 1993 British Lions which was not, in truth, his finest hour. Yet it would be wrong to characterise Cronin as a player who abused his substantial talent.

His longevity in the international arena is testimony to the opinion held of him by successive Scotland coaches, and that he was immediately recalled to the national squad by Jim Telfer amidst this year's crisis following the sackings of Richie Dixon and David Johnston, is a fairer representation.

He does, though, admit that he required something of a reminder. ''I needed the odd kick up the backside, which I got when I saw players put in my place but who I knew weren't as good as me,'' he acknowledged.

A regular early in his Test career, that need to be challenged first emerged in 1991, when the young Doddie Weir forced his way into the World Cup side alongside Cronin's Grand Slam partner Chris Gray, setting a pattern for the years to come. Various options have been tried in the second row, but Cronin always managed to fight his way back.

''They kept writing me off, but if there's a carrot there, you have to go for it,'' he said. Though, as for all his team-mates that day, his career high point was the 1990 Grand Slam win, for some time thereafter Cronin could be regarded as one of that campaign's unsung heroes.

Born in Germany, based in England with Bath, and with a strong English accent which contributed further to his wide-boy image, as did his dealings in the antique world, he had little opportunity to impose his personality on the Scottish public.

That changed with the dawning of players' rights to earn money first from peripheral activities and yet more so as the game went professional, drawing out his innate promotional skills, not least at the 1995 World Cup, where he became something of an unofficial shop steward for the Scotland squad.

It would be fair to say, consequently, that he has not always endeared himself to the establishment, and did little to improve his cause in that direction with the incident which shares its place in his affections with the Grand Slam win.

That occasion was 1995 in Paris when Scotland beat France for the first and only time at the modern Parc des Princes. However, for Cronin the day's highlight came when the crowning moment in his career as a serial prankster arrived at the post-match dinner.

Gavin Hastings, buoyant having scored the try which clinched that win, had asked Cronin, then playing in France with Bourges, to help him write his speech so he could make it in French.

The direct translation of what was read out does not bear repetition, but suffice to say there was widespread shock among his hosts at the frankness of the Scotland captain's account of how he had spent the hours between the game finishing and getting to the function.

That Cronin's last days as a professional player see him representing the SRU on official business does look, then, somewhat incongruous, but it may be the shape of things to come.

Although never based in Scotland at any stage, Cronin has long felt he owes a huge debt to the Scottish game and is keen to repay it, so is considering making his home permanently here.

For much more than the knowhow gained in 10 years as an international player, he would be a hugely welcome addition to the domestic scene.

q Rob Wainwright, the captain of the Scotland tour party to Fiji and Australia this summer, will make his first appearance this season in the European Cup on Saturday when Glasgow Caledonians face Colomiers at the Stade Selery.

It has been a frustrating wait for Wain-wright but his return from injury is timely in the light of a recently discovered groin problem afflicting Gordon Simpson.

q John Beattie will appear tomorrow