Former Wasps speedster and NFL star Christian Wade is making a huge return to rugby this weekend, as he lines up for Racing 92.
Wade's last rugby appearance was for Wasps in 2018, before he made the switch to American football where he signed for Buffalo Bills. It hasn't really worked out for the former winger, and upon the expiry of his contract with the Bills, he returned to the UK this summer.
It has now been revealed that he is joining up with Racing 92 in a rugby sevens tournament in Pau, France. Wade has been named as part of the 15-man squad that will take on Montpellier.
The French giants are weighing up whether to sign the 31-year-old winger as a medical joker after star signing Regan Grace ruptured his Achilles soon after signing this summer.
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With this in mind, we take a look at the fastest recorded 15s rugby players on the planet.
American Carlin Isles carries the tag of rugby's fastest man, but he only plays sevens. He has previously recorded a top speed of 11.5m/s (25.7mph) and has a 100m PB of 10.15 seconds.
For context, Usain Bolt reached a maximum speed of 12.4 metres per second when setting the 100m world record of 9.58 seconds in 2009.
5. Rieko Ioane - 10.69 metres per second
Ioane clocked up an incredible speed of 38.5 kilometres per hour whilst playing in the Bledisloe Cup against the Wallabies last year. Ioane had already played 50 minutes of rugby at this point, and notched up this speed by making a try saving tackle on Tom Banks. It's rare for players in the 15-a-side game to reach these top level speeds in a match environment compared to a controlled training one.
4. Kieran Marmion - 10.7 metres per second
The Connacht scrum-half set his own personal record when testing out his pace with Bundee Aki and others in a training session. Speaking on Sport Joe, team mate Jack Carty spoke about the incredible speed back in 2019.
"They did it last week, I think. Marmo, Bundee and a few others were trying to get their top speeds. Marmo hit a 10.7 (metres per second). That's north of 37 kilometres (per hour)."
"It was after training. We were doing sprints after... 10.7. He's the fastest man in Connacht rugby history. That's ridiculously quick"
3. Louis Rees-Zammit - 10.73 metres per second
Whilst playing against the Barbarians for Wales in November last year, Rees-Zammit set a new speed record for himself. He was clocked going 24mph when he scored his wonder try that was met with a bellowing reaction from the crowd at the Principality Stadium. His top speed reached 10.73 metres per second.
2. Adam Radwan - 10.85 metres per second
The England speedster caught everyone's attention last Autumn, and was clocked at hitting this incredible speed whilst training with England at Twickenham last year.
1. Christian Wade - 11.2 metres per second
If he does make his long awaited return to union, the sport will welcome back the game's fastest 15s player in history, beating Radwan by quite a considerable distance. Former team mate Brendan Macken testifies that Wade is the fastest of them all, and this is proven with player GPS.
"He's going about 11 metres per second [at top speed] and I don't think any other rugby player is touching that. The really, really quick guys would be getting 10.5 or 10.6 while Christian is regularly getting 11 and sometimes hitting 11.1 and 11.2."
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