Rugby Union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
footballer for
Racing Metro 92
In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specifi ...
after signing from
USA Perpignan
Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais, also referred to as USA Perpignan or Perpignan, is a French professional rugby union club founded in 1933 and based in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. They compete in the Top 14, France ...
in the French
Top 14
The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...
. He previously played for the
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...
in the
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
(NRL) competition, the
Western Force
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...
and the
NSW Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the stat ...
in
Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
and the
Australia national rugby union team
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against th ...
.
Early life
Son of former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
footballer Paul Cross, a Coogee Randwick Wombats junior who played on the for the club in the 1964 and 1965 seasons, Ryan was a product of
Waverley College
, motto_translation = Virtue alone ennobles
, location = 131 Birrell Street
, city = Waverley, New South Wales
, country = Australia
, coordinates =
, type = Independent early learni ...
, and was a member of the Australian Schools side in both 1996 and 1997, some of his teammates being future
Wallabies
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...
Adam Freier
Adam Freier (born 20 March 1980) is a rugby union footballer. In 2011 and 2012 he played for the in the Super Rugby competition, and retired at the end of 2012 from professional rugby. In 2015 he came out of retirement to play Shute Shield for ...
Phil Waugh
Phillip Waugh (born 22 September 1979) is a retired Australian rugby union footballer who played 136 matches in Super Rugby for the NSW Waratahs, and in 79 Test matches for the Wallabies. His usual position was openside flanker.
Rugby career
W ...
and Craig Wing. But he decided to switch codes and joined the
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
club. His brother
Clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...
is an international shot put athlete.
Rugby league career
Cross made his first-grade debut on 17 April 1998, scoring two tries against the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rug ...
. After a promising start to his league career, including an appearance at centre in the 2000 NRL Grand Final, the Roosters' first in 20 years, he had two serious leg injuries. A broken leg saw him miss much of the
2001 NRL season
The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested by ...
. Just a few matches into the
2002 NRL season
The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' salary cap breach fi ...
he suffered a major knee injury that kept him out for the remainder of that year. That season, Sydney Roosters won the Premiership, their first in 27 years. Cross returned in the
2003 NRL season
The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joi ...
, finishing as the club's leading try-scorer. He played at centre in the Roosters' loss to the Panthers in the 2003 NRL Grand Final.
In 2004 Cross was chosen to represent City Origin. He then went on to play for the Roosters at centre in their loss to cross-Sydney rivals the
Bulldogs
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.2004 NRL Grand Final.
In 2005 Cross was again chosen to represent City Origin. He was suspended for six weeks for eye-gouging
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
's
Glenn Morrison
Glenn Adam Morrison (born 28 May 1976), is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the Parramatta Eels, the Balmain Tigers, the North Sydney Bears and the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rug ...
in a match which the Roosters won 12–8. His absence proved costly for the Roosters as they just missed the finals that year. Cross was named the 2005 Sydney Roosters season player of the year.
In June 2006, after a period of speculation and rumour, Cross signed a two-year deal with the
Australian Rugby Union
Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...
and went to
Perth
Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...
to play for the new
Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
side, the
Western Force
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...
. Cross left the Roosters as the fifth-highest try scorer in the club's history, with 85 tries from his 143 matches. He also played in three losing Grand Finals for the club.
Rugby union career
Cross made his debut
Super Rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
with the
Western Force
The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...
on 2 February 2007, against the Highlanders. He went on to play every match that season and scored three tries.
After an outstanding 2008 Super 14 season, in which he won The West Australian/Rosendorff Emirates Western Force Player of the Year Award, Cross was called up for national duty by new
Wallabies
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...
coach
Robbie Deans
Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans h ...
.
He scored his first Wallaby try against
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
at the
Suncorp Stadium
Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...
,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, in his second test on 5 July 2008, having come on as a Second-Half replacement. He followed this with another try later on in the game, both came from
Matt Giteau
Matthew James Giteau (born 29 September 1982) is an Australian rugby union professional player who is playing with the LA Giltinis of Major League Rugby (MLR). Giteau joined the Giltinis after a short playing stint with the Gungahlin Eagles in ...
passes.
Ryan Cross got his full test debut against
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
on 26 July in place of the injured Stirling Mortlock. He scored the first try which contributed to the 34–19 victory over the All Blacks.
In 2011 Cross signed with the
NSW Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the stat ...
and played in 15 matches during the
2011 Super Rugby season
The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16t ...
. After playing off the bench in the first few matches, Cross then played the remaining matches as the regular starting centre, including the semi-final loss to the
Auckland Blues
The Blues (known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 2000) is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by ...
in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
.
At the conclusion of the 2011 Super Rugby season Cross signed for
USA Perpignan
Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais, also referred to as USA Perpignan or Perpignan, is a French professional rugby union club founded in 1933 and based in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. They compete in the Top 14, France ...
in the French
Top 14
The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...
. The 3-month contract was cover for centres
David Marty
David Marty (born 30 October 1982) is a French former rugby union footballer who played as a centre for USA Perpignan and also for France.
Marty was first called up to the French rugby team during the 2005 Six Nations Championship, making his fir ...
2011 Rugby World Cup
The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...
duty with the French team who lost the final to host team New Zealand. He currently plays for
Racing Metro 92
In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specifi ...
.
Ryan stepped back into Suburban Rugby in Sydney and played for 2 seasons for Balmain Rugby who won the Kentwell cup competition as joint premiers in 2013..