World Cup Contenders: Christian Wade

With the World Cup now only six months away, it’s normally not the time to change the whole team around (unless you’re France, whose starting line-up for their final Six Nations game only contained six players who started their first game). However, there’s still a chance that coaches will change their mind on a few players before the tournament, and here we are going to review one of the players who we think has a chance.

Hopefully everyone will agree that Christian Wade is one of the most exciting attacking players in Europe. As shown in the clip below, his ability to side step at pace is frightening:

Fresh from scoring a hat-trick against Northampton on Saturday, Wade now has 39 premiership tries in 61 games for Wasps. It’s good to remember that a lot of these tries have come during an awful period for Wasps; the 2011-2012 season in particular where they only stayed up due to picking up a losing bonus against Newcastle in their final game. He’s also been injured a fair few times over the past year and a half, yet he’s still the second highest premiership try scorer this season with 11 (two behind Thomas Waldrom who himself has been playing incredibly well).

But we all know it’s never been Christian’s try-scoring that has worried anyone about him playing at international level – it’s his defence and ability under the high ball which has been the concern. This has improved since he first started playing in the premiership, yet he hasn’t completely put any doubts to bed. It’s a fact of life that it’s always very hard to change a reputation. So even if Wade does improve his game, it will probably take a while for people to realise, take note and believe the change is permanent. It could therefore be unfair the level of doubt a lot of people are currently placing on his defensive capabilities.

Stuart Lancaster explained his criteria when picking wingers back near the start of the season. He stated that as well as having that X-factor, something Wade has, the all-round game is just as crucial – “It is fine having a point of difference, but the other bit of the jigsaw is the ability to be good at everything else. Ruck effectiveness, high ball receipt, defensive alignment, kicking game – everything. That’s the message they get.”

I personally think he is worth a shot and should definitely get some game time in the warm-up games or against Uruguay in the group stages, provided his form does not drop. However with England averaging over 30 points a game during the Six Nations, points scoring probably isn’t that high on the agenda at the moment. In contrast to this they conceded an average of 20 points a game. Jack Nowell and Anthony Watson would both find it unfair if they were dropped given their current form.

Do you think Wade has done enough this season to prove that he won’t be a weak spot for other teams to exploit? Here is a video that analyses his performance against Saracens the other week (the title “Complete Performance” is a bit over the top, but it is good play!):

 

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