'That's what I do' - Wade keeps cool as history approaches

Talent, obviously. You do not get through the door without it.

Longevity, absolutely. The ability to do it day after day, week after week should never be under-estimated.

And adaptability, the desire for self-improvement, whether physical or mental to adapt to changes in rules, opponents, conditions.

In Prem Rugby history, there have been few better than Christian Wade.

The Newcastle Red Bulls winger sits on 100 career tries in the competition, one behind Chris Ashton's all-time record of 101.

A hat-trick away to Exeter Chiefs in their last Prem fixture meant Wade became only the second player to reach a century of tries.

Now as Newcastle prepare to welcome Sale Sharks on Friday night (19:45 BST) as part of the league's derby weekend, the 35-year-old has his first opportunity to equal and then surpass Ashton's record.

All this, over 15 years after scoring his first, and with spells in two other sports in that time means we are not in the company of an average sportsperson.

Ashton's mark of 101 has stood for over three years or 1,285 days to be exact, but Wade is now within touching distance.

While the former England winger regularly jokes on television and radio about losing his record, Wade insists overtaking Ashton is not on his mind.

"I sometimes feel the record is more important to other people than it is to me," he said.

"I am someone who is going to score tries. That's what I do. That's what I love to do. But that is the result of the team performing well and us having great cohesion.

"My main focus is being in that system and executing what we're trying to do. The better we can do, the more tries I'm going to score as a result."

Wade's first Prem try was for Wasps as a teenager in a defeat away to Exeter Chiefs in May 2011 in a side that included England World Cup winners Josh Lewsey and Simon Shaw.

It was the first of 82 for Wasps as he finished as the Prem's leading try-scorer, either on his own or jointly, in three different seasons, 2012-13, 2016-17 and 2017-18, although a Prem title eluded him as Wasps were beaten in the final by Exeter at Twickenham in 2017.

But what is incredible about Wade's assault on the record is that he had six years away as in 2018, he headed Stateside to NFL outfit Buffalo Bills as part of the International Player Pathway.

He played in pre-season and the Bills practice squad, but he never managed to play in a full NFL game and was released after three seasons in America.

The return to rugby union came via France and two seasons with Racing 92 in Paris, where he scored 10 tries before he was enticed back to the Prem by Gloucester.

There was just one season at Kingsholm with 11 Prem tries added to his tally which took him above ex-Sale Sharks and England man Mark Cueto and alongside his old Wasps team-mate Tom Varndell into joint second on the all-time list, nine adrift of Ashton.

Always keen to expand his horizons, Wade then headed into the 13-man code for a six-month spell with Wigan Warriors and another elite sporting environment.

Watching Wade now, the 35-year-old remains as slippery as ever for defenders to stop. The burst of speed, the ability to go both ways and off both feet mark him out as a continued danger for Prem defences.

But what is the secret? Wade says that it was a tip from former Wasps and England centre Riki Flutey that gave him the insight to hone his athleticism over the last decade and more.

"Riki said to me when I was coming through, 'invest in your own team off the field'," he said.

"Then I got a serious foot injury after the Lions Tour in 2013 and from there, I really honed in on that. I started working with a physio and a trainer off the field and I was always someone really big on massages too.

"That made my off-field team and I still work with those guys today. It helped me to learn about my body, be sensitive to what going's on, what I needed to work on and going to the NFL accentuated that even more.

"Not most guys in rugby had that, but in America everyone had that. That's where I took it to another level and saw the effects of that.

"In rugby, there is a lot of responsibility on the strength and conditioning team to get players where they need to be but the responsibility needs to be with the athlete.

"That would take the strain away from a coach having to organise 40-plus players. The coaches could then focus more on performance and getting ready for the game."

While Wade has been one of the sharpest finishers on the English circuit in his spells in the Prem, international recognition has largely eluded him.

He played his one and only Test away to Argentina in June 2013 under Stuart Lancaster, before being called up as an injury replacement for that summer's British and Irish Lions tour of Australia.

By the time of that year's Autumn Internationals, he was injured and when he did regain fitness, he had slipped down the pecking order and with England starting to gear up for the World Cup in 2015, he never made it back.

And when he missed out on selection for that tournament on home soil, the winger realised that it was time to change his approach.

"Growing up playing rugby, everything is geared towards playing for England," he said.

"It's a bigger platform, you earn more money, more commercial opportunities, but from that 2015 non-selection, they took six wingers and I wasn't part of that. It didn't really add up.

"I thought I'm obviously not someone they are looking at for the trajectory of the team, so instead of focusing on England, my whole focus was on myself and the team I was playing for and went even harder.

"Things became a lot clearer as I didn't have to think what England were thinking, if they were watching my games, it was something I removed from my mind and my career continued to push on."

With Wade still in prime physical condition, surpassing Ashton's record is simply a matter of time unless he is struck down by serious injury.

However, his contract at Newcastle is up at the end of the season, so the future beyond that is uncertain.

But he has no plans to stop, so how far he takes the try-scoring record is anyone's guess.

"I think a lot of people think I came back to break the record," he said.

"But I'm all about making the most of the gifts that God has given me and being an athlete, taking that very seriously, wanting to learn from everybody, young and old guys, trying different ways of training to get the best out of my body.

"Everyone can see I've got a lot of life and a lot of sport in me. Even post this season and getting the record, I want to keep playing until I don't have the juice anymore.

"I'm going to keep doing what I do and see what happens."

And anyone watching Newcastle's number 14 can testify the juice has not run out yet. Not by a long shot.