Gloucester boss hails ‘good bloke’ Christian Wade after early ‘grace period’ back in the Premiership
George Skivington was full of praise for headline signing Christian Wade
Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington has lauded the performance of Christian Wade after he opened his try-scoring account for the season with a fine hat-trick against Bristol Bears on Friday.
The winger returned to Premiership action for the first time since 2018 last weekend, but he has now taken a huge leap towards the league’s try record with three scores in the 44-41 win over Bristol at Ashton Gate.
These tries now take him up to 85 tries in the competition, 16 behind Chris Ashton on 101.
“We knew there would be a grace period”
Speaking to the media after the match, boss Skivington was full of praise for the former Wasps man, and said it would still take him time to get back to his frightening best in the competition.
“We knew there would be a grace period with Wadey where it would take him a bit of time to get back into the Premiership,” he said.
“I can say nothing but good about him. We want him to score tries, and tonight hopefully that gets the ball rolling.”
Skivington added: “He trains hard and works hard. He’s just a good bloke.”
Wade made the switch to the NFL in 2018 and spent four years with the Buffalo Bills. He later returned to rugby with Racing 92 and spent two seasons with the Parisians before returning to the English game with Gloucester.
The deadly winger also won one England cap and has also represented the British and Irish Lions on their tour of Australia in 2013.
“The boys were brave”
Wade’s hat-trick was a major deciding factor in Gloucester’s entertaining 44-41 win over West Country rivals, Bristol, but other scores from Freddie Thomas and new recruit Gareth Anscombe were also vital in securing maximum points.
This was also the Cherry and Whites’ first win of the new campaign, and Skivington detailed his delight at how his team “backed themselves” in the victory.
“I think the boys were brave. They backed themselves, playing another team that were also brave and backed themselves, so it was always going to swing both ways.”
The game wasn’t all plain sailing for Gloucester though. They held a 28-15 lead at half-time, but following Wade’s late yellow card they had to cling on at the end under mounting pressure from the hosts.
“The big thing for me was the character shown,” said Skivington. “We could have folded last week (against Saracens), and we didn’t, and today there were some helter-skelter moments and you have got to stick together and fight hard. I thought we deserved the win.”
Gloucester now turn their attention to a tough away trip up to Sale Sharks in a week’s time.