Sam Cross (born 26 August 1992) is a Welsh

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 ...

player who plays for Wales and club rugby for the

Ospreys The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

as a

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

. 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. He grew up in

Brynmawr Brynmawr (; , ,) is a market town, community and electoral ward in Blaenau Gwent, Wales. The town, sometimes cited as the highest town in Wales, is situated at above sea level at the head of the South Wales Valleys. It grew with the devel ...

and after leaving secondary school he attended

Cardiff Metropolitan University , image_name = Shield of Cardiff Metropolitan University.svg , image_size = 150px , motto = cy, Gorau Meddiant Gwybodaeth , mottoeng = The most valuable possession is knowledge , established = 2011 – Car ...

where he took up a Sport & Exercise Science scholarship.

Rugby career

Cross first played rugby as a child for the Youth section of

Brynmawr RFC Brynmawr Rugby Football Club are a Welsh rugby union club based in Brynmawr in South Wales. The club presently plays in the Welsh Rugby Union Division One East league and is a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons. In 2002 Brynmawr RFC, a ...

. He then joined

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr con ...

before switching to the Cardiff Met team. An all-round sportsman, Cross also played football at county level for Gwent and was capped for Wales in

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 ...

at the under-18 level. 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. He also played in the 2013 Students Olympics. 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 The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

. In 2016 Cross was selected to represent Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in Rio as part of the nation's rugby sevens team.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Sam Welsh rugby union players Newport RFC players Living people Rugby union flankers Male rugby sevens players 1992 births Rugby sevens players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby sevens players for Great Britain Great Britain national rugby sevens team players Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in rugby sevens Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from Abergavenny Welsh rugby sevens players Cardiff Metropolitan University RFC players Wales international rugby union players Ospreys (rugby union) players