Wade: After two tries I was raring to get another one (From Bucks Free Press)

Wasps winger celebrates England hat-trick

8:50am Friday 15th June 2012 in Wasps By Alan Feldberg

CHRISTIAN Wade is doing all the right things if he wants to become a superstar of rugby.

The former RGS High Wycombe star marked his second England start with a hat-trick for the midweek team against South African Barbarians in Kimberley on Wednesday, helping Stuart Lancaster’s side to a thumping 54-26 victory.

With Harlequins back Mike Brown injured, Wade was a strong contender to make the Test squad for tomorrow’s clash with the Springboks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, although David Strettle was eventually picked ahead of him.

Wade’s first try came after 19 minutes and he ran home from near the half-way line after the break before wrapping up his hat-trick in the final play of the game.

The Wasps sensation said: “I’m really happy I scored a hat-trick. It was just down to the boys.

In these conditions and at this altitude they still worked hard and I was able to get on the end of a few good pieces of play so I’m really excited.

“For the first try, Danny Care spotted some space in behind. I was calling it but because the pitch is a bit hard it was difficult for me to judge the bounce so I had to put my boot on it before I could gather it to score.

“Then Anthony [Allen] made an amazing break down the left wing and I was tracking him on the inside and was able to run it in from wherever it was.

“The last one was again Danny Care. He picked and went from the blind side and found me with a great spin pass. It was flat pass on the line and I was able to score in the corner.”

Wade had touched down on his first England appearance against the Barbarians at Twickenham last month, but he admits he was desperate for a hat-trick to make it four tries in two games.

He said: “After I scored two I was raring to get another one on the board and I was able to do that in the last play of the game which was really good for me.”

For Wade, Wednesday’s game is the latest in a string of highlights at the start of his career.

The 21-year-old has already shone for England Sevens and was joint-top scorer for the England U20s in their march to the Junior World Cup last summer.

On the back of that form, he blitzed the Premiership last season in his breakthrough year and is now firmly established as one of the outstanding talents of English rugby.

Commenting on England’s midweek victory, he said: “We didn’t get stuck in straight away and they came up with the score, but once we got going we were able to string some good phases of play together and get some tries.

“In the second half we played more direct and were able to get them on the outside and sometimes through the middle as well.

“Putting 50 points on any team is a good result and I’m just glad we were able to get the win.”