Cross ready for 'grand final' occasion
Posted
Big stage: Ryan Cross will be filling the big boots left by Stirling Mortlock. (AAP: Dave Hunt)
Wallabies centre Ryan Cross says he will draw on his rugby league experience when he lines up against New Zealand in Saturday's opening Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney.
Cross will make his first Test start for Australia at outside centre for injured captain Stirling Mortlock.
The former league player, who played in three losing NRL grand finals for the Roosters, switched from league to union last year, joining the Western Force.
Cross says he is confident ahead of his first taste of Bledisloe football.
"I think the experience of playing in a couple of grand finals is good for me - playing in front of big crowds," he said.
"I think these sort of battles are like a grand final for us."
Fellow league convert and Wallabies debutant Timana Tahu also says he is ready to make the jump from club rugby to the Test arena.
The former Kangaroo and New South Wales representative has been named on the bench for the Wallabies with Cross moving into the starting 15.
Last weekend Tahu was in the West Harbour team beaten 63-24 by Randwick in Sydney's Shute Shield competition.
But he says it will be a total different game should he be called in to win his first Test cap.
"It'll be a lot more than West Harbour, we got pumped last week," he said.
"I don't want to be running backwards all day if I do get on, but it's a big jump going from local rugby to international rugby," he said.
"But I think I'm prepared well and looking forward to Saturday."
