Fresh from his outstanding success this season coaching the NSW Womens Team to its first win in 17 years over the Queensland Womens side, former NRL player Ben Cross has been appointed coach of the 2016 NSW Universities Representative Team.
A former NSW State of Origin representative, Cross played a total of 95 NRL games with the Canberra Raiders, Melbourne Storm and Newcastle Knights before travelling to England where he ran out for Leeds, Wigan and Widnes.
He was assistant coach of the Knights’ NSW Cup side prior to taking the helm of the NSW Womens side this year and he faces a similar challenge with the students team, who has not beaten its Queensland counterpart for a number of years.
The Universities RL Interstate Challenge match takes place on 8 August 2016 at Langlands Park, Brisbane East.
The match will serve as the main trial for selection in the 2017 Australian Universities squad to compete in the Student World Cup to be held in Sydney from 5-17 July 2017.
