- Published
The opening week of the new Prem season was all about tries, tries, tries as the league's 10 teams went on all-out attack.
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teams → publish → attack
No fewer than 52 tries were scored across the five matches, setting a record for the opening round of a season, with an average of more than 10 per game and four players claiming hat-tricks as spectators were royally entertained.
Contributing two of those scores was Christian Wade for Newcastle Red Bulls in their 59-26 loss at Northampton Saints, as the veteran winger moves closer to an all-time record.
The 35-year-old is now on 97 career tries in the Prem, only four behind Chris Ashton's record mark of 101.
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old → score → 101
If Wade stays fit and the Red Bulls continue to play a game where they want to get the ball wide, it's surely only a matter of time before the record is in his hands.
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record → stay → hands
Wade returned to rugby union last December with Newcastle after a short spell in rugby league with Wigan Warriors and he made no secret of his desire to chase down Ashton's tally.
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he → return → tally
He only added two last season as the Red Bulls struggled at the bottom, but his two tries on the opening night away to the champions suggest new-look Newcastle are going to be nothing if not entertaining.
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Newcastle → add → champions
It is more than 15 years since Wade scored his first try in Prem Rugby for Wasps but anyone watching his efforts at Franklin's Gardens would not have seen a player of diminishing powers - rather, they would have admired the enduring speed and slipperiness of the Newcastle winger.
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they → score → winger
"Christian bounces across in front of people where they can't lay a finger on him," Red Bulls head coach Dan McFarland told BBC Sport.
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McFarland → bounce → Sport
"He can accelerate through a hole and defenders find it very difficult to cope with that."
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it → accelerate → that
Wade's Prem tries have come for Wasps, Gloucester and now Newcastle across a globetrotting 15-year career.
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tries → come → career
His sporting journey has also taken in a spell in France with Racing 92 in the Top 14, the 13-man code with Wigan and more than three years in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills, even though he never made it into their main squad.
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he → take → squad
And that period in America has left an indelible mark, according to his new head coach, as to why Wade remains a feared Prem opponent.
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Wade → leave → coach
"Christian Wade is a proper professional," said McFarland.
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McFarland → say → ?
"He spent a few years in the NFL and he's clearly taken a lot from that experience in terms of how to look after himself and how to prepare himself as a rugby player.
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he → spend → player
"He's a really good team man, he's got a lot of time for the young players.
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he → get → players
He's always calm, a calming and connecting influence.
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He → calm → ?
"Christian's in our leadership group because of his capacity to be able to connect with people.
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Christian → connect → people
"
Leading Prem try scorers in last five seasons
2025-26: 18 - Tommy Freeman (Northampton), Noah Caluori
2024-25: 13 - Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol), Ollie Hassell-Collins (Leicester)
2023-24: 14 - Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton)
2022-23: 15 - Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
2021-22: 16 - Max Malins (Saracens)
'Record will be blown to smithereens'
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Record → lead → smithereens
With Wade four short of equalling Ashton's 101 tally and five tries away from breaking it, the current record holder can feel him coming.
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him → equal → it
The Slough-born winger is the only player in the top 10 still actively playing, but Ashton believes the mark is eventually going to go a long way past 101 with the type of rugby on offer in the modern Prem.
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mark → bear → Prem
Last year's top try scorers, Northampton and England's Tommy Freeman and Saracens' teenage starlet Noah Caluori both touched down 18 times, the highest season-ending figure for five years, while Caluori's tally included him scoring five tries per match on two separate occasions against Sale Sharks.
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him → touch → Sharks
Freeman started this campaign with a hat-trick in the same game as Wade's double and that took his career mark to 58, all at the age of 25.
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that → start → 25
With the England winger having signed a new contract at Saints and their dynamic games delivering tries by the barrel load, could he be the player to eventually take the record?
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he → sign → record
"It's happening [the record being broken], but it's not going to last long, whoever takes it," Ashton told BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
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Ashton → happen → podcast
"I think it's going to be absolutely blown to smithereens.
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it → think → smithereens
I sat there on Friday and watched Tommy run in another hat-trick and thought he's going to get 20 this year.
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he → sit → 20
"Give him another five or six years at this rate that we're going, oh my goodness.
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we → give → that
By the age of 30, he'll have 100 plus.
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he → have → 100
Christian Wade is missing more tries per game than he is scoring tries but that probably shows where Newcastle's mindset is."
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mindset → miss → tries
The Aporia
