Town's Mossop gets shock World Cup call
Last updated 12:10, Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Workington Town will be without first-choice centre Jason Mossop for over three weeks – after he received a shock call-up for the Student World Cup in Australia.
Cumbrian Mossop qualifies for Wales through the grandparent rule, and though he will be debuting for his adopted nation Down Under, he will not be short of pals at the tournament, as all five of his rugby-mad house-mates in Leeds have also received call-ups!
“Two of them are going with Wales, and one each with Ireland, Scotland and England,” said the accountancy and IT graduate.
“Four of them play for Leeds Met, and Rob Worrincy plays for Sheffield. He’s also going with Wales.
“Wales contacted me out of the blue about going to Australia. I can’t wait, it should be good.”
Wales share a group with New Zealand, France and Ireland, and after watching Leeds Met, he believes the playing standard will be impressive Down Under.
The ex-Hensingham amateur added: “With the likes of New Zealand and Australia in there, I can’t imagine the standard being low.”
The 22-year-old flies out to Brisbane on June 30 and returns on July 22, and he praised Town boss Dave Rotheram for allowing him to take part.
“Dave said he would never stand in my way. He’s been great, letting me miss three weeks,” continued Mossop, who characterised Workington’s season to date as “up and down.” All our defeats have been off our mistakes. For instance, at Swinton the first-half was really good, and then in the second we went off the game plan, kept dropping the ball and they were going 100 metres to score.”
