ANDOVER’S teen rugby star Charlie Waite has been awarded the club’s top honours for his outstanding performances this season.

The 18-year-old scooped Andover Rugby Club’s VP’s Supporter’s Player of the Year Award after leading the first team’s try and point scoring tables.

Waite has only played the sport for two years after spending most of his young life practicing football.

Aged 16, Waite appeared for Eastleigh Town in the Youth FA Cup after coming through the Andover New Street academy.

But while at Peter Symonds College he switched to rugby and broke into the All Black’s first team last season.

This year he has been an instrumental part of Andover’s success, helping the club to avoid relegation from the London Two South West Division.

This is despite the club only achieving promotion to the league for this year.

Head coach, Andy Waite, said: “Charlie is a great example of how a good level player can switch from one sport to another and quickly adapt and do well, something we don’t do anywhere near enough in this country.

“This season he has appeared in every game for Andover, is top try and points scorer and has appeared three times for Hampshire U20 in the National County Cup.

“Like a lot of players who switch sports, he brings something different in terms of vision, as well as a very good boot and of course he has pace and power to burn.”

On next season, Waite said: “The key goal this year was to stay up.

“I would say that we are very confident going forward that we will improve further.”