Chris Ashton

They then won their semi-final against Harlequins, including a try from Ashton in the 61st minute.

However, in a hard-fought final at Twickenham they again lost to Northampton, by 20 points to 24.

Ashton finished the season joint-4th in the try scoring table, with a total of 8 tries.

Christopher John Ashton (born 29 March 1987) is a retired English rugby union and former rugby league footballer, and one of the few players who have represented England in both rugby codes.

Ashton primarily played wing and secondarily played fullback.

He came through Wigan's scholarship programme and played for Wigan's U18s in 2003.

Ashton was selected for the 2004 Academy Origin Series and the 2004 victorious England Academy U-18s tour to Australia.

He made his senior debut in Wigan's last match of the 2005 season, and scored two of their seven tries in a 36–22 victory over Huddersfield Giants.

Ashton first played as a or for Wigan Warriors in rugby league's Super League competition, and won four caps for England in 2006 and 2007.

Ashton was brought into the Wigan squad at the start of 2006 as replacement for the injured Kris Radlinski.

He was one of the most consistent players for Wigan during their disappointing Super League XI season and was a contender for the Young Player of the Year award.

He finished the 2006 season with 15 tries from 29 appearances making him the leading try scorer for Wigan.

Although some criticisms were made about his defensive abilities, he earned a call into the England squad at the end of 2006 while Great Britain were on tour in Australia and New Zealand.

Ashton made his England debut against France on 22 October 2006 in the Federation Shield tournament.

He played in all four Federation Shield matches, which concluded with England winning the competition, and he scored three tries in his four games.

In 2007 Ashton signed for Northampton Saints in rugby union's Premiership, before moving to Saracens in 2012, Toulon in 2017, Sale in 2018 and Harlequins in 2020, he finished his career at Leicester Tigers where he retired in 2023.

Ashton was given the number 1 shirt, previously worn by Radlinski, at the start of 2007 despite the arrival of former Bradford Bulls full back Michael Withers.

Ashton made 52 appearances in total for the Cherry and Whites, scoring 30 tries.

On 19 March 2007 it was announced that Ashton had signed to play rugby union for Northampton Saints, after Wigan granted him an early release from his contract.

On 1 September 2007, Ashton made his debut for Northampton at Franklin's Gardens as a late substitute for Will Harries against London Welsh in National Division One.

He scored his first try for the club, with his first touch of the ball, in the same game which Saints won 44–11.

The following week he scored for Northampton's second team, Northampton Wanderers.

and a substitute scoring appearance against Moseley.

In 2008, Ashton broke the National Division One try scoring record, scoring 39 tries (and one conversion) from only 25 appearances.

Despite a relatively disappointing 2008–09 season, with many appearances in the Wanderers and struggling to make it into the first team regularly, in the 2009–10 season Ashton embarked on a run of form that brought 15 tries in 16 games in all competitions including Heineken Cup efforts against Munster and Perpignan.

Ashton was named as the Premiership player of the season for 2009–10.

He made his debut for England in March 2010 and played regularly until 2014, including in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, where he finished as the tournament's joint leading try-scorer.

On 19 January 2012, it was announced that Ashton had signed with Saracens, and joined up with his

new team for the start of the 2012–13 season.

Ashton's Saracens contract was rumoured to be worth £250,000 per season.

On 1 September 2012, he made his Saracens debut against London Irish.

He scored two tries on his début, in a game which Saracens won 40–3.

Saracens finished the 2012–13 regular season at the top of the table, 3 points ahead of Leicester Tigers.

However, in the play-offs they lost their semi-final match against Northampton, Ashton's former club, by 13 points to 27.

Ashton scored a total of 6 tries that season.

In the 2013–14 season, Saracens again finished the regular season as league leaders, 9 points clear of Northampton.

After a break of four years, he was recalled to the England squad in November 2018.

He won 40 caps for England.

In April 2022 he became the record try scorer in Premiership Rugby after scoring a hat trick against Bristol to take him to 95 tries, in April 2023 he became the first player to 100 tries after another hat trick against Exeter Chiefs.

Ashton's position at Wigan Warriors was normally, although he also played on the.