It was just his fingertips which saved Bundee Aki from an embarrassing moment early in the second half of Leinster and Connacht's New Year's Day game at the RDS.
After taking a looping pass from Garry Ringrose, Cronin found himself in space on the wing. Normally, when Aki comes up against a hooker on the wing, there would be only one winner. This was not the case in Cronin vs Aki.
Aki's heart must have skipped a beat when Cronin left him looking flat footed as he burned past him on the outside.
It was just one moment in a Man of the Match performance from Cronin as Leinster just barely held out as Connacht laid siege to the home side's line with the clock deep into the red at the end of the game.
Cronin was omitted from the Ireland squad for the November Internationals. It will be interesting to see if he has returned to Joe Schmidt's good books come the Six Nations.
