REVEALED: STORY BEHIND NEW WALES CAP 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 Wales-Online 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 recheck on a player’s form, perhaps talking to those who have been developing him at his club.
There might be a bit of digging to see how the said individual performed in Under-5s rugby and whether he ate his greens and routinely enjoyed 14 hours’ sleep a night. There might be a request for a full report on that high ball he dropped while playing for his local Under-12s.
Yet here Cross is, in the Wales squad with only one competitive game of professional 15-a-side rugby in the bank.
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.
Countless Saracens players were knocked backwards by the 6ft 3in, 15st 10lb forward and there were also multiple carries and a try from the left wing from the Olympic sevens silver medallist, involving a smart turn of pace after he had been moved out wide because of injuries.
The performance was certainly something, but the full story of how he ended up stepping into the Ospreys starting XV is just as remarkable.
“I was down to be travelling reserve,” he explained.
“Then Dan Lydiate pulled out on the Friday morning, so I knew I was on the bench.
“I thought I might get 15 or 20 minutes against the European champions to show the coaches what I can do. I did the warm up and got my bib and big coat on to go and sit on the
bench. The starting XV were having a team talk in the dressing room, just as I was going out of the door.
“Then, as I was walking out, Steve Tandy came around the corner and said you are in.
“He told me Justin Tipuric had pulled out and I was starting. So Tips took his jersey off and gave it to me.
“It was about a minute before kick off. I caught the last bit of the team talk and Alun Wyn Jones pulled me to one side and said not to worry about the occasion, which was quite reassuring. Then I was walking out of the tunnel on to the pitch.
“It was almost the best way to do it.
“It was my first start and maybe if I’d had all day to think about it I would have over-thought it.
“As a rugby player, you can only wait for an opportunity and it was a bit of luck for me, with Dan and Tips both pulling out.
“I thought I might only get one shot at this, so I was determined to leave it all out there.”
And what about that Farrell incident that caught the eye?
“Farrell is a great player. He’s a British Lions and has just come back from a series in New Zealand.
“But, as a rugby player, you are not fazed by anything.
“The bigger the player and the bigger the occasion, the more I sort of grow into it.
“I saw an opportunity to get a shot in on him and ruffle his feathers, so I took the shot. It didn’t go down so well with him.
“It probably wasn’t the kindest remark he came out with! But it’s all part of the game.”