Christian Wade: Wasps boss Lee Blackett responds to talk of wing’s return to Premiership club
Wasps head coach Lee Blackett has given his view on a possible return for wing Christian Wade, who has been released by NFL side the Buffalo Bills.
Despite Blackett admitting there had been no contact with the player, he’s well thought of by the Premiership side who are keen admirers of Wade.
Wade sits fourth on the Premiership’s leading try-scorer list after a prolific stint with Wasps from 2011 to 2017 before he made a move to the USA.
Great character
“I love Wadey. He’s a great character, he’s a great finisher. But in terms of coming back to Wasps, or coming back to rugby union, I’ve not heard anything,” Blackett said of the Wasps favourite.
“From a Wasps perspective, we were pretty gutted (when he left) because of the quality player he is, quality person he is.
“He’s one of those guys that when you saw him every day, no matter what he did, he always made you smile.
“There’s still people here who know Wadey really well. You still hear the stories and what people are saying.
“Only the other day there was a lot of people talking about him here. He is someone everyone keeps an eye on.”
Next up for Wasps is a Challenge Cup semi-final against Lyon, with the winner of that showdown taking on either Toulon or Saracens in the final.
An all-English title clash would be a boost for the Premiership as, following the quarter-finals, there’s been talk of French dominance across Europe.
“Each season one league dominates more than another and while there were a couple of great French performances at the weekend, I wouldn’t go over the top about it,” said Blackett on the rivalry.
“Lyon are in form and are a big collision team who score tries in broken field. If we made this game an individual game and it came down to individual moments, they have people who can really hurt you.
“So have we, but if the game breaks up and becomes loose then they have people who can hurt you big time. But there are certain things that we’ve seen and we’ll be going after.”
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