Call-up for Wales is just bonkers, declares Cross
SAM Cross might be persuaded to believe that there’s life on Mars. At a push, he might even accept that New York has the edge on Brynmawr for bright lights and high-rise buildings.
But one thing he simply couldn’t get his head around this week was that he had been called up to the Wales squad after just one game of professional 15-a-side rugby.
It’s a situation he describes as “bonkers” and “surreal”. But the detail of the story is all the more stunning.
He reveals he only found out he was starting for the Ospreys against Saracens a minute before kick-off when Justin Tipuric handed him his No 7 jersey.
He explains just what went on during his high-profile exchange of pleasantries with England and Lions star Owen Farrell.
And he says he discovered he was in the autumn squad when he scrolled through hundreds of notifications on his phone and spotted the WalesOnline headline!
Cross wasn’t due to even be in the match-day squad for the Ospreys’ trip to Allianz Park, but all that was to change following injuries to two of their back row stars.
And then, just a few days later, Cross’s jaw was on the deck when Ospreys kit-man Shaun McAuliffe shouted something to him through the rain at the team’s Llandarcy training pitch.
“I didn’t know what time the squad was being announced. I knew it was out on Tuesday, but I hadn’t really looked into it closely.
“To be honest I was concentrating on trying to keep my place at seven for the big derby game against the Dragons on Friday night.
“We were doing a lineout session, which finished at around 11am.
“As I was walking off, our kit man said ‘you know you are in the Welsh squad?’
“I sort of dismissed it and thought he was just winding me up.
“I’ve been having a bit of banter off the boys since the Sarries game with them saying I can’t do anything wrong and that I’m walking on water.
“But then I went back to the changing room and looked at my phone and there were something like 500 notifications on there.
“I thought there is something definitely up here.
“I started going through them and then I saw the WalesOnline article. The headline said: “Wales call up Hadleigh Parkes and Sam Cross”
“At that point, I realised the boys weren’t winding me up! The boys said you usually get an email from the Union when you are selected, so I scrolled through my emails and there it was.
“It said congratulations on being selected in the autumn squad and to meet up next Monday.
“My mum rang me up in tears. She said she was really proud.
“I think my dad had a couple of tears as well, but not as many as my mum!
“It was as much of a shock to them as me. “They have seen me playing from minis and never imagined it could come about. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s very surreal.
“It’s been a whirlwind couple of days. It’s just been bonkers.”
In the modern game, stuff like this isn’t supposed to happen.
Test squad selection is supposed to be a painstaking process, with coaches going back to check and re-check on a player’s form, perhaps talking to those who have been developing him at his club.
Before last week he hadn’t played a full 80 minutes for two years and that was in the Welsh Premiership for Newport against Cardiff.
The Ospreys’ Champions Cup encounter against Saracens changed everything.
Upgraded from travelling reserve status to the starting line-up because of injuries before kick-off to Lydiate and Tipuric, Cross produced a belter of a display.
Owen Farrell probably wouldn’t have had a clue who he was, but Brynmawr’s finest dumped him onto his backside, provoking a reaction from the England and Lions Test man, and Cross didn’t stop putting his shoulder to the wheel all evening.