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Ali Crossdale relishing competition with gold medallists at Perpignan
By Chris Jones
Former Wasps flyer Ali Crossdale’s personal Top 14 highlights reel includes the moment he burnt French international wing Damian Penaud to score a great individual try in Perpignan’s win over Bordeaux-Begles last season and that pace has always marked him out as a special talent.
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The win offered Perpignan the chance to finish in the top six but they fell away which is why coach Franck Azéma has welcomed ten new arrivals to the squad while 13 have left. It’s the nature of the league that squads undergo significant change each season in the search for a winning formula.
In addition to Crossdale’s pace, the club can now boast three of France’s gold medal-winning Olympic sevens squad which, spearheaded by poster boy Antoine Dupont, captured the hearts of the nation in Paris this summer.
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Perpignan will be hoping the three gold medal winners, Jefferson-Lee Joseph, Théo Forner, and regular centre Jean-Pascal Barraque can help the club recapture past glories with their last Top 14 title coming in 2009. Joseph and Forner are wingers, which increases the competition for Crossdale who started his career in the Saracens academy before joining Wasps who went bust in 2022 initiating his move to Perpignan.
Crossdale has been impressed with Joseph’s impact and that pair are sharing ideas as he explained: “We have three gold medal winners with Jefferson-Lee, Jean-Pascal and Theo, who got injured on the first day of the Olympic tournament. They have won something pretty amazing and want to drive the standards and it is about developing that winning mentality in any team.
“Jefferson-Lee has come in from Agen and he has been amazing in pre-season. I have always enjoyed competition and Jeff has been electric and I am excited to see him play and learn from him. Sevens is different and his aerial ability is something to admire and we have been picking up things off each. It’s healthy for the squad.
“The first day of pre-season was interesting with all the new faces and it dawned on us how many of the squad had left. But it’s great to have the input of the new guys and hear their stories.”
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The England U20 wing, who was called up to Eddie Jones’ senior squad, is preparing for his latest French challenge as part of the Perpignan squad that will launch the new Top 14 season away at Bayonne in the Basque/Catalan derby. Manu Tuilagi, who joined Bayonne from Sale Sharks misses the game due to a broken hand.
While searing pace will be a vital weapon for Perpignan, they will also have to deliver forward power and central to that threat will be new French sensation Posolo Tuilagi, who has been robbed of the chance to go head-to-head with his uncle due to Manu’s hand injury that will keep him out of the Bayonne team for eight weeks.
Watching Posolo and Manu collide was something Crossdale and his teammates were relishing but it will have to wait until the return game later in the season. Crossdale said: “Posolo is someone you want to avoid in training and off the pitch he is the nicest guy you could want to meet. He is so humble and down to earth and you forget just how young he is.
“He has worked really hard and has such an exciting future and the impacts he makes on the game are amazing. He developed his game last season and when he carries the ball he attracts tacklers. His size means he is going attract attention and he has worked on his distribution and has so much potential.
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“It would have been incredible if Posolo and Manu could have played against each other and everyone will be gutted it’s not happened, but hopefully later in the season we will get to see who comes out on top.”
When Crossdale moved along with England flanker Brad Shields in November 2022, they were part of a small group of English players plying their trade across the Channel but now the wing is one of 22 England-qualified players operating in the Top 14.
One of the latest to English players join him in France is Alex Moon who was part of Northampton’s Gallagher Premiership title-winning team and is now at Bayonne.
Moon and Crossdale were in the same Sedbergh School first XV team along with Johnny McPhillips, the Ireland U20 and Ulster outside-half, who is now playing for Carcassonne and the flying wing admitted: “If you had told the three of us at Sedbergh that we would all be playing professional rugby in France we wouldn’t have believed you.
“I caught up with Johnny a couple of months ago for a coffee and it’s great he is now at Carcassonne. I saw on social media that Alex had to speak in French using a microphone to his new teammates and I recognised the panic on his face because I felt the same when I had to do it after arriving at Perpignan.
“It will be really nice to catch up with Alex and Manu after the Bayonne game and see how it is going with them.
“The crowds are amazing here in France and my first away game was at Toulouse and the fans formed a tunnel from the bus and they were pretty friendly. Our home ground in Perpignan is different with the away team booed all the way to the changing rooms and then booed during the warm-up.
“Some pretty strong things are said to the opposition by the fans and one of the benefits of improving my French is that I can now understand what they are saying! “
As he prepares for the opening game, what can Crossdale remember about that fantastic try against Bordeaux? “My Mum and Dad and my girlfriend were in the crowd and when the kick was put through I my thought was ‘just go for it’.
“I don’t think Damian saw me coming and I got the kick ahead off the outside of my foot and then was thinking ‘please bounce up’ and thankfully it did. With the nature of our season, winning that game was everything and meant we had a chance of competing for top six.”
