Wade has Premiership try record 'in sights'

Christian Wade has joined Gloucester after six years away from Premiership rugby

New Gloucester winger Christian Wade says the Premiership try-scoring record is "in his sights" as he returns to the league this season.

Wade is currently fifth on the Premiership all-time try-scoring list, with 82 - 19 behind leader Chris Ashton on 101.

The 33-year-old former Wasps player is back in English club rugby after six years away, playing American football in the NFL before returning to the sport with Racing 92 in France.

"It is in my sights and I obviously want to go for it," Wade told the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

"I am not thinking about it now. Once I get closer then it’s like 'I've one or two more to go'."

Wade made 165 appearances for Wasps during a seven-year spell with the club from 2011 to 2018. He was also capped once by England, in 2013, and joined the British and Irish Lions tour that year.

He quit the sport in 2018 to pursue a career in the NFL and joined Buffalo Bills as a running back via the league's International Player Pathway, but did not make a regular-season appearance for the side.

Former England international Danny Care is the only other still-active player ahead of Wade on the all-time Premiership try-scoring list, with 85 tries.

Wade believes Ashton's record can be broken.

"For me it's two seasons, but I could do it in one," said Wade.

"People always ask me about the tries and I've never really focused on them too much.

"There were probably two years when I was playing with Tom Varndell, who was always like 'tries, tries, tries'. And we were competing against each other.

"I just think you have to let it happen and if it happens, it happens."

Wade is 19 Premiership tries short of Chris Ashton's all-time league record of 101

Wade joins a Gloucester side that finished 10th and ninth in the past two campaigns and has never won the Premiership title, with their most recent top-four finish coming in 2019.

Wade was part of the Wasps side that lost the final to Exeter in 2017 and said he has "unfinished business" in the league.

"I stood up in front of the boys and [said] I'm coming back to the Premiership not for a jolly or to enjoy my last few years, I still haven't won a Premiership title and that's still my goal," Wade added.

"One of the big things about coming to Gloucester was the set-up they have down there...

"There is such a young group of lads but I feel like they haven't had the belief in their potential all the time or whether it's the consistency in their performances.

"But we've made a couple of signings this year, with Tomos Williams, Gareth Anscombe, and for me I really want to push forward, top four, and push for some titles. I guess it is unfinished business."