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Wasps sign England shadow Ali Crossdale from Saracens
By Sam Smith
Wasps have confirmed the signing of Saracens back Ali Crossdale, who will join the club at the end of the season.
The 23-year-old back-three player has been included in Eddie Jones’ England Shadow Squad for this year’s Guinness Six Nations.
Crossdale has been at Saracens since 2016, after stints with Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks’ Academies.
An England international at Under 18 and 20, he played at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in 2017 and 2018 and received a call-up to the England senior squad for the first time in October 2020.
The former Sedbergh School pupil furthered his development in 2019 with a season in Christchurch, New Zealand, as well as a spell at Greene King IPA Championship outfit Bedford Blues last season.
Crossdale made his first-team debut for Saracens against Harlequins in 2017 and made four Premiership appearances for them last season, with an impressive strike rate of three tries.
Wasps Head Coach Lee Blackett said: “We are delighted to sign an exciting young English back like Ali for next season.
“I’ve known about Ali for several years since he was a highly-rated schoolboy at Sedbergh. He has a great age profile, with his best years ahead of him. We are all looking forward to working with Ali and helping him reach his potential in a Black and Gold shirt.”
Crossdale added: “Joining such a historic club that is consistently aspiring for greatness is something that really excites me.
“The entertaining style of rugby is something that I can’t wait to be involved in and I look forward to working with everyone at the club.”
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To be fair it was nowhere bear the Leinster first team (for which, btw, Leinster copped nothing like the outrage that Jake White did for sending a rotated team to the UK). But it’s fun to watch the Stormers doing their thing. They are attracting big, diverse crowds of young fans, and deservedly so. Great to see.
Go to commentsIt might be legal but he’s sailing pretty close to the wind. Not a lot needs to go wrong for Finau to end up in the bin. Was it late? Not quite, but borderline. High? A couple of CM within the laws, no room for error with that one. Did he wrap the arms? There was a token effort to wrap one arm, the intent was clearly to hit with the shoulder. So yeah, it’s legal, just. But as we all know, a very slight change in the dynamics could easily have him seeing red. Hopefully not when it really matters.
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