Cross stings Wasps with a moment of pure magic

WHAT you see is what you get with Geoff Cross, the new hero of Edinburgh Rugby, team-mate Phil Godman insisted today.

When prop Cross roared forward and rounded off a 40-yard sprint with a sidestep that took him past an astonished London Wasp Mark van Gisbergen and in for a try during Edinburgh's 22-15 friendly win at Murrayfield on Saturday, the crowd of 4225 rose as one to acclaim a moment of pure magic.

But the message from stand-off Godman is that it has taken hours of dedication to make Cross an overnight sensation.

"Geoff's delighted that he's a superstar," laughed Godman moments after revealing what had gone into producing the type of score that, quite frankly, 17-stone front rowers are rarely if ever associated with.

"Any one of us would have taken a score like that, never mind a stand-off like me" said Godman, adding: "At first we reacted with complete shock, but it is also true to say that Geoff has been training really well in the gym where he can squat press more weight than any of us.

"What made the score good to see was that it offered reward for the hard work the players knew Geoff had put in.

"The crowd saw Geoff taking off (for the line] but it was about hard work done away from the pitch, too."

As soon as Cross touched down the 61st minute clincher, experienced full back van Gisbergen turned to face the North Stand and stood staring for several moments, apparently in disbelief.

Soon Edinburgh's own website was proclaiming a "wonder try", while perhaps more relevantly Wasps coach Shaun Edwards drew on his rugby league background to compare Cross with 13-a-side legend Billy Boston, a star winger of the 50s and 60s who had a stand named after him at Wigan's Central Park.

You can also count Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson among Cross' admirers, particularly of how far the uncapped fully-qualified medic has advanced in the past six months.

Liberally dispensing plaudits while making it clear feet had to be kept on the ground, Godman was among those singled out for special mention after a helping Edinburgh share the try-count 3-3 on a day when superior goal-kicking was the vital difference on the scoreboard.

What particularly pleased Godman about his score concerned the way it was based on Edinburgh serving early notice of their attacking intents.

"We have worked hard on countering the opposition" said Godman, as he described how the ball was moved wide inside the Edinburgh half by Matt Mustchin to winger Andy Turnbull.

From there Turnbull developed momentum in easily rounding his marker before unselfishly putting Godman over in the corner.

"I was screaming at Andy for the ball but there's no doubt he could have scored himself. That was a move we'd been working on."

Overall, Godman maintained Edinburgh had to peak for the visit of Munster at the start of the Celtic League on Friday week.

"Pre-season is a lot about fitness and practising moves and when they come off against a top team like Wasps that is especially good.

"The difference this pre-season is we are adding on extra building blocks all the time. Instead of having this type of strong base in the past we have maybe had to pick ourselves up and start again.

"Things are coming off but it is important to remember it is still pre-season."

Coach Robinson rightly pointed to the fact that three clear cut chances had been squandered before half-time in also emphasising the need not to get carried away ahead of a further tough warm-up at Bath on Friday.

At least Edinburgh were making line-breaks and creating opportunities though, and the first to be taken fell to Nick De Luca.

With Edinburgh trailing by a Godman penalty to tries by prop Tim Barnard and winger Tom Voyce, it took until the 46th minute to seriously breach the Londoner's rearguard.

Here, Edinburgh demonstrated they had been paying close attention to newly-introduced law changes, including defenders having to keep five metres back from scrums.

Breaking off the back of an attacking set-piece, Scott Newlands timed a pass perfectly to Ben Meyer for De Luca to go over near the posts.

With Godman converting, there was no holding Edinburgh even when his own try soon after was cancelled out by James Haskell. It was left to Cross to bring the house down with a rampaging effort which Chris Paterson converted on his return to the club as a second-half substitute.

Robinson said: "A lot of questions were asked about our scrum and line-out but we'll narrow these down before going in against Munster."

Individuals singled out positively were Phil Godman, David Blair, Geoff Cross, Chris Paterson, Scott Newlands, Calum Macrae and Fraser McKenzie .

Robinson said: "A win like that gives the team belief. Now we just have to keep our feet on the ground."

The former England mentor didn't even have to mention the fact that Edinburgh are in the same Heineken European Cup pool as Wasp. Counterpart Edwards did that for him.

Edwards said: "That's the second time I've come here as a coach and the second time I've been a loser. Come the Heineken Cup visit on December 5, I don't want to make it a hat-trick in the big game between us."

Psychologically though, Edinburgh, who rested the likes of Ally Hogg and Mike Blair while Wasps were missing Rafael Ibanez and Serge Betsen, have surely stolen a vital march on their rivals.

Scorers:
Edinburgh:
Tries: De Luca, Godman, Cross.
Conversions: Godman, Paterson.
Penalty: Godman.

London Wasps:
Tries: Barnard, Voyce, Haskell.

Edinburgh: Southwell (Paterson, 40), Robertson (A Turnbull, 40), Cairns, captain, (Macrae (21), De Luca (Southwell, 64), Webster, Godman (D Blair, 56), Laidlaw (Meyer, 56), Jacobsen (Traynor, 77), Ford (Kelly, 40), Kerr (G Cross, 40), S Turnbull, Gissing, McKenze (Mustchin, 40), Newlands, Macdonald.

London Wasps: van Gisbergen, Lewsey, Mitchell (Hoadley, 65), Waldouck, Voyce, Flutey (Staunton, 60), Reddan, captain, Payne, Webber (Varley, 66), Barnard, Shaw (Palmer, 52), Birkett, Haskell (Ellis, 65), Hart, Worsley.