I'm sticking my neck way out here, but as I understand it, the figure in the POH is the "demonstrated" crosswind component, not the actual maximum.
I guess if you are an ace pilot you can do better than this.
I was taken out, as a newbie student pilot and have had to land in the "demonstrated" maximum for a C150 which is 15 knots. It seemed to be OK for me, it was just a function of your wing down technique.
More expereinced pilots please feel free to contradict and enlighten me.