Record-breaker Wade gives credit to his pals
CHRISTIAN WADE believes he can top a record-breaking 2016 and enjoy even more success in the 12 months that lie ahead.
The 25-year-old Wasps wing claimed his 18th try of the calendar year in his side’s 40-26 Christmas Eve win over Bath, overtaking the previous best haul set by Iain Balshaw.
And he wasted no time in opening his account for 2017 by touching down in Wasps’ first league game of the New Year, a 22-16 victory over Leicester, to take his tally to a competition best of nine for the season.
“The team we have at the start of this season is different
to the one at the end of last season,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“I feel we’ve taken another step up as a team and we’ll be able to score more points and play that exciting brand of rugby we all love.
“In turn, that’ll mean I’ll get even more opportunities and, hopefully, top that 18try mark this year.”
While Wade showed his individual brilliance with a superb, side-stepping solo effort against Bath, the once-capped England international is the first to acknowledge the role of his team-mates in turning him into the Premiership’s most-prolific finisher.
“My line-break was all down to Danny Cipriani’s decision-making, to know when to hit me with a pass.
“There was also the other line from Ashley Johnson to draw the Bath defender towards him and Kyle Eastmond on my outside to draw the defenders away as well which gave me the opportunity to go through.
“The rest was down to my instincts and footwork and speed to finish it off but like with most tries in rugby, it was a team thing.
“If everyone performs their roles to the best of their ability, then wingers like myself can finish things off and score tries which is what we are there to do.”
Two of the best modernday wingers in British rugby before they retired were Shane Williams and Jason Robinson, both similar in stature to 5ft 9in Wade.
But while Welsh record try-scorer Williams and England World Cup winner Robinson belied their lack of inches to earn 87 and 51 caps for their respective countries, Wade has so far been unable to add to the solitary cap he won against Argentina in Salta in the summer of 2013.
He said: “For me, when it comes to selection, it is down to one man’s opinion. I am just happy to be enjoying my rugby as I feel I went away from that a couple of years ago.
“I was probably a bit depressed about it, and it might have affected my confidence on the field. But I feel in the last couple of years I’ve been in a good place.
“I have remembered it is just a game and we play rugby to enjoy it.
“If opportunities come along to play international rugby again, I’ll obviously be grateful for that.
“But I am really content and happy with where I am at and how well we are doing as a club as well, and that’s all that matters.”