Wade left baffled by last call with Jones
Christian Wade has accused England head coach Eddie Jones of never intending to pick him despite public suggestions to the contrary six years ago.
Wade, who left rugby for the NFL in 2018, was last capped at Test level in 2013 and was not selected during Jones’s first season in charge in 2016 despite scoring 12 tries in the Gallagher Premiership for Wasps.
Describing Jones as “a bit of an awkward one”, Wade explained that the England head coach encouraged him to “keep scoring tries” during a phone call without offering any more informative feedback.
“He wanted me to work on the stuff I was already good at, already smashing. I obviously said to him ‘yeah, that’s what I’m doing and will continue to do’,” Wade said.
“But it wasn’t very informative. It was almost like he called me so that when I spoke to the media I could say he had called me.
“I guess there was pressure on him because of the performances I was putting in. It was almost a courtesy call,” he added. “If you don’t think I should be in the team, that’s fine, but just be straight up. If you don’t want to say why, then just don’t call me.”
Wade, 31, is leaning towards a return to rugby after 3½ years in the NFL as a running back with the Buffalo Bills, and has spoken twice to Wasps since returning to the UK.
“Ultimately, [Wasps] do want me to come back,” Wade added. The Premiership try-scoring record is held by Chris Ashton on 95, 13 ahead of Wade, who added: “I can do that [pass Ashton] in one season. I’ve been doing that since I was a kid. That’s something I’m intrigued by, being back in the Premiership one day to claim that title.”
Meanwhile, Premiership Rugby has confirmed that it has no intention of permanently pulling up the drawbridge from the Championship despite Ealing’s failure to pass the minimum-standards criteria.
Chief executive Simon Massie-taylor insists the plan remains for the league to be expanded to 14 teams after next season. Promotion and relegation would then resume at the end of the 2023-24 campaign via a play-off between the Premiership’s bottom side and the Championship winners. “The intention was that we were moving to a 14-team league, so it was disappointing that Ealing didn’t pass the standards and come up,” Massie-taylor said.
“It is still the intention to have relegation going forward after this moratorium that was really important from a Covid recovery perspective. It was the right decision in order to preserve the 13 clubs that have existed within the Premiership. It’s a miracle that they’ve survived after what has gone on over the last few years.”