...but ‘baby brother’ Christian won’t let him have it all his way
CHRISTIAN Wade is certain his ‘brother’ Tom Varndell will become the Premiership’s record try scorer this season – even if he wouldn’t mind taking it off him in a few years.
The pair, below right, joined Wasps at the same time back in 2009 but while Wade was fresh out of school, Varndell, six years his senior, already had five years of top-flight experience with Leicester.
Wade, left, reveals that Varndell, like him a former schoolboy prodigy, was a mentor at first, helping him make the step up to senior rugby – and their relationship soon became a genuine friendship to the point he now considers him a brother.
Varndell, now at Bristol, is only four tries away from Mark Cueto’s mark of 90 tries, but Wade is on par to overtake both having crossed 53 times in the Premiership at the age of 25.
The pair will square up today when Bristol travel to the Ricoh Arena and Wade is relishing the opportunity to show what he’s learned.
“Tom will one hundred per cent beat the record this year,” Wade told The Rugby Paper. “He’s only four tries away from Mark Cueto, but maybe I’ll be able to beat him – he’s 31 and I’m only 25. I’m not that far off him so hopefully I can keep scoring. I’m not really a stat guy but chasing Tom’s record would definitely be in the back of my mind. “We had a good relationship when he was here and we always pushed each other to see who would score the most tries. “I looked up to him when I was at school and he took me under his wing at first. But then we became wing men on the field and best friends. He’s like a brother to me now. “I played most of my professional career with him so it was weird to see him go. But we’re still in touch and I’m looking forward to facing him for the first time in a competitive match.
“We had one on ones in training but never with the intensity of a match. He’s a big dude with long arms and a big reach so he’ll probably try to use his fend or just run over me.
“Hopefully, I will be able to get some space and put a bit of footwork on him. He probably has a slower turning circle than I do so I’ll see what I can do.”
Wasps are still unbeaten after two rounds and Wade is happy to see the efforts of pre-season pay off with two late surges to first beat Exeter before claiming a last-minute try bonus-point at Leicester last Saturday.
He added: “We trained at a higher intensity for longer periods over the summer to be able to sustain it longer than other teams and it’s been paying off.
“Last week at Leicester the boys were still going hard in the 79th minute and got the try bonus-point.
“We’re determined to keep hustling for 80 minutes this season and get all the points we can.”