I don’t mean this lightly when I say most of my favourite rugby memories are intrinsically linked to the success and tragedy of Chris Ashton. His retirement and extraordinary achievement this week genuinely hit me quite hard.
The end of Ashton’s career genuinely feels like it has bookended my rugby memories as a child.
Ashton is up there for me amongst Brian O’Driscoll, Dan Carter and Johnny Wilkinson as one of my early rugby heroes.
He is by all accounts a true trend setter in the game. To the modern watchers of the game Dupont is cited as the expert of the ‘cheat lines’ making it one of his best attributes, but there is no doubt that Dupont’s inspiration was Chris Ashton. All modern wingers and scrum-halves have, whether they like it or not been indirectly influenced by Ashton.
Before him tries weren’t so easy to come by, nowadays the majority of tries all come via a close support line, of which Ashton was and still is masterly. There aren’t many in the game who can so emphatically be labelled as a trend setter quite like Ashton.
But it isn’t just his emphatic try scoring exploits that secure his status in the history books, it is the pure number of big moments that he involved himself in, whether he meant it or not.
The truly famous try against Australia in 2010 is clearly a standout but also personally for me because I made my dad buy me the replica grey shirt England wore that day to remind me. As a 12 year old I wore that shirt as much as I could, almost as often as I rewatched the try. So much so that I know every word of Miles Harrisons commentary, ‘He goes round the fullback which was Mitchell covering, Ashton is going, Ashton is going to score.’ Iconic!
But the moments continue, whether it be, his Ash splash in front of 74,000 in the Millennium in a win against Wales in 2011, or eating Manu Tuilagi’s punch in the 2011 Prem semi-final, or to only 18 months later to receive the pass from Manu to score another splash in Twickenham in the famous win against 2012.
More recently to his comeback try for England against the Kiwis again in 2018, his fluffed kick for Toulon v Bath, his many Premierships tries, or his flip flopping between 7 Premiership clubs. The man has the magnetic ability to attract controversy, skill, and drama like no other player.
He is up there only with Johnny Wilkinson as one of the players to conquer France so comprehensively and so quickly. 30 tries in one season, beating the Pro 14 record is one of his most underrated, yet impressive feats.
He deserved more than his 44 England caps. The chance to beat Rory Underwoods try tally and experience more international success alluded him but bans and personality clashes dictated otherwise.
Yet no matter how much I would love Sale to win the league this year I would love Ashton to win it more. The man deserves the Hollywood ending, it would only be fitting to end his remarkable career in an equally as remarkable fashion.
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