Facing old pal is ‘weird’ for Wade

THEY were the wingmen at Wasps but now Christian Wade and Tom Varndell are flying solo, looking to steal the glory at the Ricoh Arena today. It will be the first time the pair have faced each other on a competitive rugby field, when Vardnell returns to the club for which he and Wade shared the try-scoring. Now with Bristol, Varndell is fighting to keep his team up, whereas Wade is trying to fire Wasps to the top of the Aviva Premiership. On opposite sides, but still thick as thieves. ‘It will be weird,’ admits Wade (below). ‘When I joined Wasps from school it was his first year as well, so most of my professional career has been spent with him. Tom started pretty young in the Premiership, at Leicester, so he had quite a bit of experience at 23 when he came to Wasps. ‘I was 18 and straight from school so he became a mentor. I did not really know him before he came, but I had watched him when I was at school, scoring all these tries, playing in finals. I looked up to him. ‘It started off with him taking me under his wing, us doing video sessions together, but then we moved up into the first team and became wingmen and best friends.

‘We were like brothers and are still tight now.’ So what has he learned from Varndell? ‘Just try and run fast!’ Wade laughed. ‘He loves an intercept! When I was younger I used to, too, and got a few tries out of that, but in training boys started to go for intercepts all the time so they were banned! ‘Anyone who took an intercept had to pay a fine, so that has stopped now!’ When it comes to try-scoring, these two are among the hottest properties in the league. They have 139 Premiership tries between them, with the Bristol flyer just four away from equalling Mark Cueto’s league record of 90. And Wade would love his pal to break it — just not this weekend. But with the Wasps man on 53 himself, and only 25, it may not be too long before he climbs to the top of the tree himself. No player has ever scored a century of tries in any domestic league, and while he admitted he had never thought of that record, Wade said beating Varndell to 100 will be in the back of his mind. ‘It will be good to finally play against him,’ added Wade. ‘It should be good fun, but a serious game to watch.’