Mavericks reunited!
CHRISTIAN WADE opens up to former Wasps team-mate DANNY CIPRIANI on being stifled by English rugby, playing American football and his dreams, at 31, of some overdue title glory in France with Racing 92
CHRISTIAN WADE has returned to rugby with French super club Racing 92, having spent three years with Buffalo Bills after pursuing his dream of playing American Football in the NFL. Sportsmail columnist Danny Cipriani caught up with his former Wasps team-mate in Paris to discuss his career, their shared experience of being regarded as maverick talents and how rugby has to change in this time of crisis. Rugby correspondent CHRIS FOY listened in...
Danny Cipriani: What made you come back to rugby — and why did you sign for racing? Christian Wade: i wanted to find a place that would make me excited about playing rugby again, because it had got to the point where i wasn’t really fired up. You’re having to do stuff that doesn’t help your game, for the sake of it. ticking boxes. i don’t believe in that. i’d do the bare minimum of what they wanted me to do, to keep up appearances, then go and do the real work on my own, behind closed doors.
DC: a lot of training is set up to deliver the coach’s message. there are great exceptions, but the majority of coaches and environments you encounter in rugby are too rigid. that’s the overall feel of the game. But as a coach, you have to have faith in your players and relinquish some control. it’s not just rugby that’s got this issue. it’s the culture of our sport. there’s not enough fluidity. On that, now you’ve come back into rugby, are you feeling more free? CW: this is the most free i’ve felt, with the way the culture is here at racing. We don’t have rules as such, but a fines system has always been a big thing in rugby.
at Wasps, there was a time when they were going hard with the fines and it was getting stupid. People were trying to fine me for all kinds of stuff. it got to the point where i just said: ‘i’m not paying any fines.’
DC: speaking of Wasps, what do you make of what’s happened to our beloved club?
CW: it’s devastating. i could have been in that position, if i had decided to go back there. it’s the only team i’d played for before i came here. they took a chance on me from 16, all the way up. they were good to me. i thought i would be there for ever. rugby is a great sport, but something like this wouldn’t happen in the nFL. it wouldn’t happen in France. it wouldn’t happen in soccer. it’s not one team, it’s two (Wasps and Worcester) — and i’m sure there are other teams who could be close to this, too. that’s why, unless you have a certain amount of money, you shouldn’t be able to own a team. it’s not a joke.
DC: it’s not just about the money. it’s about coaching and playing, it’s about how the game is run and how it feels. What do you think needs to be done to improve the game?
CW: Ultimately, it’s quite a privateschool game in our country and that has to be busted open, so you have a larger pool of people from different cultures and backgrounds. DC: But why would a kid from a council estate with a lot of energy to expend want to play rugby? how do they connect with it or identify with it? CW: Why couldn’t they feel it? i never played rugby until i was 13 and to me it was just, i catch the ball, i run, i score, it feels great. i don’t think rugby itself is the issue. rugby is a great game. You are in a team with 15 dudes and there are different parts to it; scrums, lineouts, backs’ plays. the actual game itself has so much potential to change lives and give enjoyment.
DC: From what you’ve said about your time in nFL, it comes across that the coaches there speak to you in a very peaceful and humble and open way, as opposed to the rugby attitude, which is, ‘this is what we do and i’m right’. in nFL, it seems like coaches are happy to let players be themselves.
CW: in rugby, it’s always, ‘You have to wear this. You have to do that’. You almost feel like you’re at school. in nFL, you can wear what you want and be how you want to be, as long as you’re respectful. it’s more natural. the coaches would say, ‘Let it flow. Be yourself’. it’s great. For me, if you’re allowed to really be yourself, it translates into how you play.
DC: how did it make you feel when you were tearing it up and scoring a load of tries for Wasps, but not getting the chances with england? there was always chat about, ‘ he’s got to do this or that better’.
CW: i didn’t think there was an issue with my defence or how i was under the high balls. i thought, ‘What am i supposed to do? i don’t know what games they’re watching’. it was unsettling, but i’ve always been the underdog; the guy not getting picked. they wouldn’t put me on, then i’d come on for five minutes and score a hat-trick. at Under 16s, it would be, ‘You’re too small’. so i’d say, ‘OK, cool, let me score more tries then’. What else did i have to do? i would just keep going because i had that underdog mentality. even now, i’m still getting that same treatment. DC: You’re the best winger i played with. i’ve never seen someone do what you can do. For coaches to belittle you and say, ‘can you chase a high ball?’ is ridiculous. anybody can do that. But you can beat six people to score. What’s going on in your brain when that’s happening?
CW: i’m just seeing where the space is and moving my body. i have certain cues in my head. it might be from taekwondo — because i used to do that — or basketball. i don’t see who the players are in front of me, they’re just bodies. if i have loads of time, i might think, ‘OK, there are props there, give me the ball’, but it doesn’t really matter. it’s just bodies.
DC: You have so much intelligence for the game and can articulate it in a way that people can learn from, if they wanted to understand it — rather than imposing their ideas on you.
CW: Once you know how a team wants to play, you should be able to play as you see it. it’s like Pep Guardiola having a style of football he wants from his teams,
but within that the players can play in their own way, too.
DC: Pep was asked how he gets Kevin De Bruyne to make the passes he makes. He said, ‘I can’t coach that’. People say anyone with X-factor in rugby is hit and miss, but there can be consistency of brilliance. The way you sidestep people has not just been in one or two games, it’s been throughout your career. If you had stayed in English rugby, you would be by far the highest try-scorer.
CW: Now I’m back in rugby, just to get that! At Racing, I feel comfortable. I was a bit sceptical about how it would be. But here, they care for players, the culture is good and there’s French flair, too. Players aren’t afraid to try things.
People are being themselves on the field, and off the pitch they’ve got swagger. Coming back from the NFL, I needed to still have that freedom.
DC: Remember when we played a game for Wasps, you scored about six tries and we did a little celebration after the game? How did that meeting on the Monday go?
CW: That was on Christmas
Eve. My mum came to the game and I scored a hat-trick as a Christmas present for her. That was a Saturday. On the Tuesday, we had a meeting with the whole team and the first thing the coach said was, ‘After Christian and Danny’s audition for Britain’s Got Talent — I don’t want to see that again’.
DC: He tried to make a joke of it, but then he repeated himself four or five times, ‘ That’s not what we’re all about. I don’t want people celebrating’.
CW: I stopped celebrating after that because I thought you couldn’t really do it. I’d just score and run back. But after the coach said what he did, I went to see him and said, ‘I feel belittled. I don’t like the way you called us out’. He said if he let us do it, others would think they could celebrate and it would get out of hand.
In America, no one cares. If you score, you celebrate. When we were coming through the England Under 18s with John Fletcher and Peter Walton, we had a board listing all the celebrations. They were probably the first coaches I knew who did that. Them and Alex Sanderson.
They said, ‘If you score, we want the whole team to celebrate’. We had 10 different ones and you could choose what to do. I loved it. They tried to change the face of the game, but have been removed from the system. So many guys came through under those dudes and were able to excel.
DC: You have always stuck to your guns. You have always been you,
‘I feel like I’ve only reached 75 per cent of my potential’
even though at times it’s been difficult. I don’t think rugby has seen the best of you.
CW: I think I was seen as the token black guy, but no one else in rugby could do what I did, so how was I the token? I feel like I’ve only reached about 75 per cent of my potential, because of having to battle against all this stuff.
DC: If you’ve only reached 75 per cent, what are the targets now that you’re back in rugby?
CW: I’ve never won a major championship, so I want a Top 14 title with Racing and a European one. I want to keep working on being the best and to help the younger generation using my foundation, Next Gen You, so they learn from my experiences. I can give a rounded perspective having played in America and here.
DC: I wish people could have seen you in full flight. But I hope you can give the message to these kids about how to be themselves.
You’ve experienced different cultures and you’re wise and humble enough to deliver your feelings so they can excel. I’m excited to see you do that — and win championships.
CW: Now Danny, when are you coming back to rugby?
DC: I’m interviewing you, mate...!