Gloucester’s Wade to join Wigan in cross-code switch

Christian Wade, a former NFL winger and winger, has been signed by the Wigan Warriors on a short-term deal.

After Gloucester’s season is over, the 33-year-old former Wasps and Racing 92 star will team up with the Super League and world champions.

In 10 Premiership games for Gloucester, Wade scored seven tries, including two hat-tricks, to increase his try-scoring total to 89, which is fourth on the all-time list.

He made his pre-season touchdown run of 65 yards for the Bills, but he never made a regular-season appearance.

He joined Racing in 2022, and he then reconnected with Gloucester last summer.

Martin Offiah, a legend at Wigan who left rugby union in 1987 to join Widnes, praised Wade’s signing as significant for the sport.

Since Jonathan Davies joined me at Widnes in the 1980s, Wigan’s signing of Christian Wade was, he claimed, “the biggest coup for the sport of rugby league.”