Christian Wade to play first rugby match in four years on Saturday

Former England international Christian Wade is set to play his first rugby match in four years when he lines out this Saturday for Racing 92 at the In Extenso SuperSevens event in Pau. The 31-year-old winger made his final appearance for Wasps in October 2018 before quitting the sport for the chance to try and make it in the NFL with Buffalo Bills.

Having returned to England earlier this summer following the expiry of his Bills contract, Wade hinted that he could make a return to rugby but the restricted Premiership market wasn’t kind to him at a time where budgets are squeezed due to the reduced salary cap.

A lifeline emerged, though, on August 18 when it was reported that Wade could potentially join Paris-based Racing as a medical joker after their new rugby league signing, St Helens’ Regan Grace, suffered a ruptured achilles that will sideline him until early 2023.

The Top 14 season in France begins on the first weekend of September with Racing hosting last season’s beaten finalists Castres and the club have now decided to check out Wade as they have named him in their 15-strong squad for this Saturday’s sevens event in Pau which starts with a match versus Montpellier.

The Racing squad, which takes the field on Saturday lunchtime in the 16-team tournament, also includes Niko Matawalu, the Fijian scrum-half who played last season for Montauban in the Pro D2.

Despite not playing a rugby match in four years, Wade is still ranked as the fourth highest Premiership try-scorer of all time. His tally of 82 is 13 just tries behind Chris Ashton of Leicester who took the No1 position off Tom Varndell earlier this year.

Wade spent eight and a half seasons at Wasps, making 165 appearances for the club before trying his luck in American football. Since his return to England, he has launched a series of next-gen rugby camps aimed at upskilling young players.