Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Watch: The astonishing meteoric rise of Sam Cross

The meteoric rise of Sam Cross

It hasn’t been a bad few days for 25-year old Sam Cross who made his debut for the Ospreys on Saturday night, scored a try in the corner and roughed up Owen Farrell in the process.

ADVERTISEMENT

He has just capped that all off by being selected into Warren Gatland’s Welsh squad for their Autumn International series, not a bad debut by anyone’s standards.

Credit: Ospreys TV

He wasn’t even supposed to be on the bench, two Lions players Lyidate and Tipuric had to both pull out just prior to the match with back injuries for Cross to get into the squad and then to start.

The Ospreys were eventually so depleted that the flanker would find himself finishing the game on the wing, from where he would also score his first try.

Credit: Sarries TV

Cross contributed with more than just a try, he also made 14 tackles without missing a single one and carrying the ball 14 times for a total of 42 metres.

Cross comes to us from sevens world, winning a silver medal at the Brazil Olympics representing Team GB and playing in over 100 games for Wales in the World Series, as well as captaining the side at the age of 24.

Credit: World Rugby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfRDe_HaZrA

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 45 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Tommy Seymour: ‘I'm just glad I'm not playing now. There's an embarrassment of riches’ Tommy Seymour: ‘I'm just glad I'm not playing now. There's an embarrassment of riches’
Search