Steve Tandy admits he was surprised at Sam Cross’ call-up by Wales, but still believes the 15-a-side novice can help Warren Gatland’s side play a more expansive game.
The Olympic Games sevens silver medalist’s shock selection for the Under Armour Series next month was the pinnacle of a wonderful week for the 25-year-old flanker. It came only three days after his Ospreys debut, which was his first professional game of 15-a-side rugby.
“As far as weeks go, this is the best I have ever had. I’m excited, surprised, but I just can’t wait to get started,” said Cross.
“Going into the week there were a couple of injuries and I was travelling reserve first of all for the Ospreys. Then Dan Lydiate dropped out and I was on the bench, hoping to get 10-15 minutes.
“Then Justin Tipuric pulled out a minute before the kick-off and it was jersey straight on and straight out to face the European champions in what was my first 15 a side game for a long time. I was over the moon to bag a try at the end to get the bonus point.”
That performance earned him his Wales call-up and now his regional coach, himself a former back row player, is backing him to make an impression on an even bigger stage.
“I was a little bit surprised at his call up, but you see the personality that he is, he is a great kid. He’s had some good experiences with Wales Sevens and coming in against Saracens he showed his temperament with a good performance,” said Tandy.
“As a coach, I was interested to see how he backed that up given all the distractions he had during the week. He put in a shift against the Dragons and I think he has got the temperament to handle the massive step up.
“He brings a lot of football and, with Wales looking to expand their game a bit, he can do that. Listening to Sam, looking at the way he goes about his business and handles himself in recovery and looks after his game, he can do a good job.
“He had a little bit of a sniff of having a game against Saracens and he went into a lot of detail in his preparation and that’s a testament to the boy himself.”
Tandy was pleased to see his side finally end their losing run with a bonus-point win over the Dragons, but warned they will need to improve if they want to keep on winning. Next up is a tough trip to Edinburgh.
“It’s a nice feeling to win, but it’s a bit of a strange feeling because we were a bit scratchy. The Dragons were pretty physical and they disrupted us, but we showed a lot of character and ground out a bonus point win,” added Tandy.
“We are still pretty patched up, and we had a couple of bad injuries again today, but we found a way to win.
“It is great to get the five points today, but it is important that we build and reverse this run. We know we are going to have to be better than we were tonight to get a win up in Edinburgh.”
