FORMER Dursley youth player Charlie Sharples is loving the buzz of being Gloucester’s most prolific try scorer this season.
The 20-year-old winger has established himself as a first team regular at Kingsholm and is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the best finishers in the country with six tries in 15 Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup appearances.
That included a hot streak of five tries in four games before Christmas and puts him on top of the club’s try scoring charts as the youngster, who grew up a Gloucester fan, continues to live his dream.
Sharples said: “That is a great achievement and I’m really happy with that but some tries have been down to other people like James Simpson-Daniel, who has put me in for a couple.
“I love scoring tries so I’m really happy to be top try scorer.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of scoring tries at Kingsholm.”
Sharples has been one of the highlights for the Cherry and Whites in a season where they have failed to live up to their usual expectations, currently lying ninth in the table.
The former England under-20s star made his debut two years ago but his big breakthrough came in the second half of last season and he feels he has successfully made the transition from being a promising Academy product to first-team player this season.
“I’ve played in most of the games which has been nice,” he said.
“In the last couple of months I’ve played in almost every game so it’s nice to get a good run and score some tries.
“I am seen as more of a first team player now because of the amount of game time I’ve had.
“I feel like a first team player as opposed to that transition between the two.
“It’s going great at the minute, I cannot ask for any more.”
Sharples went off with a rib injury in Gloucester’s last game - a 13-13 draw at home to Worcester - but is confident of returning within the next two weeks and carrying on from where he left off.
He has his sights set on finishing the season as the club’s top try scorer and also helping the team turn their fortunes around on the pitch.
“I would like to keep my current form, keep scoring tries, move things forward for the club and hopefully get a few wins to make our way up the table and put ourselves in with a chance of finishing in a respectable position,” he said.
“There have been so many games we should have won and could have won. The Worcester game we should have won comfortably but we did not capitalise on our chances.
“It’s a tight league and the margins are smaller between winning and losing so when we get opportunities to score tries we’ve got to take them.”
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