Relegated Accies turn to Cross as new coach

Cross, who has been Edinburgh's club captain for much of the last eight years, retires from playing at the end of this season, aged just 29, having struggled with a succession of knee injuries. The flanker was one of the unluckiest players in his time at the top level as he was lined up and stripped ready to win his first cap on the touchline at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in 2004, only for the coach at the time, Matt Williams, to fail to get him on to the field before the final whistle.

That opportunity came after a lengthy process to clear him as Scottish, after he was born in a military hospital in Mauritius to a mother who considered herself Scottish but had also been born abroad while her father was in the Forces. He played for Scotland at sevens, under-19 and under-21 level, but there were to be no other chances of a full cap.

Cross has remained a loyal and popular servant to Edinburgh, also helping out at Selkirk and cutting his coaching teeth with Penicuik, Murrayfield Wanderers and Scotland U18s.

He is keen to bring a professional outlook to the Accies squad, after they suffered relegation in their last game of the season, and said that pre-season training will begin for some players on 1 June.

Cross said: "It's a privilege to be appointed to such a famous old club. My philosophy is always to run the ball first and we will be implementing that at Raeburn Place next season.

"While promotion is on everyone's minds, there are some very difficult teams in Premier Division 2 and the fact that we have just been relegated needs to be at the forefront of everyone's minds."