Sam Cross
| Date of birth | 26 August 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | Abergavenny, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 103 kg (16 st 3 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Olympic Games | ||
.svg.png){kind=icon} | 2016 Rio de Janeiro | Team |
Sam Cross (born 26 August 1992) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays for Wales and club rugby for the Ospreys as a flanker. Cross is an experienced rugby sevens player and has turned out for the Wales Sevens team in over a hundred matches, as well as captaining the side at 24 years old. Cross was a part of Team GB at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio winning a silver medal. Cross was selected for the Wales national team in 2017 with a substitution debut against Australia. He was later selected for his first international start a few months later against Georgia.
Personal history
Cross was born in Abergavenny in Wales in 1992.[1] He grew up in Brynmawr and after leaving secondary school he attended Cardiff Metropolitan University were he took up a Sport & Exercise Science scholarship.[2]
Rugby career
Cross first played rugby as a child for the Youth section of Brynmawr RFC. He then joined Ebbw Vale before switching to the Cardiff Met team.[2] An all-round sportsman, Cross also played football at county level for Gwent and was capped for Wales in rugby league at the under-18 level.[3]
Cross was selected for both the Welsh Students team and the GB Students, the latter at under 15 and under 18, and was part of the team that won the World Students Championships in Brive.[2] He also played in the 2013 Students Olympics.[2] Despite growing up playing the 15-a-side variant of rugby union, it was in rugby sevens that he made his mark. He has made over a hundred appearances as part of the Wales Sevens mainly in the World Rugby Sevens Series.
In 2016 Cross was selected to represent Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in Rio as part of the nation's rugby sevens team.[4]
References
- ↑ "Squad Profiles: Wales Sevens – Sam Cross". wru.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Woolford, Anthony (19 July 2016). "Who is Sam Cross? Everything you need to know about the Welshman going from Brynmawr to Brazil". walesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ↑ "Rio 2016: Wales' biggest overseas Olympic contingent ready for opening ceremony". BBC Sport. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ↑ "Great Britain name rugby Sevens squads for Olympics in Rio". skysports.com. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.