All set for another Ashton avalanche
BARRING injury it’s not difficult to predict an avalanche of Chris Ashton tries for attack-minded Sale next season.
Ashton has scored heavily wherever and whenever he has played.
At Wigan Warriors he scored 30 tries in 52 appearances while with Northampton in 2007-08 he scored 39 in 25 Championship appearances and went on to bag 33 Premiership tries with Saints. Add that to the 47 he clocked up with Saracens and he is currently third on the alltime Premiership list with 80 behind Tom Varndell’s record total of 90.
It should be a good contest between him and Christian Wade (82) to see who is first to get past Varndell.
At Toulon he scored a record 24 tries in his solitary Top 14 season and also took his total in the European Cup to a record 39, while with England he has been stranded on 19 in 39 Tests since his last appearance four years ago when he was just 27.
An England recall you would think is a must and if so he will avoid the curious fate of other phenomenal try scorers who for various reasons played their last Tests aged 27.
That is what happened to All Blacks duo Joe Rokocoko (46 tries in 68 Tests) and Jonah Lomu (37 in 63), and Ben Cohen (31 in 57). Julian Savea (46 in 54) also insists there will be no more All Black appearances for him after his move to Toulon.
Ashton wasn’t the first try scoring machine to find himself surplus to requirements in his pomp but at least he’s got a shot at redemption.