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Adam Radwan learning from Jason Robinson as he seeks England recall
By Chris Jones
Newcastle Falcons flyer Adam Radwan has been studying videos of England wing Chris Ashton, the Gallagher Premiership’s record try scorer, and World Cup winner Jason Robinson in a bid to restart his own international career.
Radwan made his full England debut and scored a hat-trick of tries in a 70-14 victory against Canada at Twickenham in 2021 and scored again in the big win over Tonga three years ago, but has not been capped under head coach Steve Borthwick, although he has taken part in training squads.
It is Radwan’s pace that marks the 26-year-old out as a special talent and Borthwick has been keeping tabs on his progress under Steve Diamond, the Newcastle director of rugby, who has used those videos of Ashton and Robinson to highlight the importance of coming off your wing to look for try-scoring chances.
The wing only got a one opportunity to run at the Bristol defence in the 70th minute of the team’s opening day 24-3 loss and getting Radwan into the action is a priority for Diamond and his coaches.
Diamond, who takes his team to Harlequins on Saturday hoping to end a run of 22 league defeats, said: “We have been through a couple of videos of Jason Robinson and Chris Ashton showing how those player go looking for the ball.
"I think it was hard on Radwan against Bristol because we had a really attritional game and it was 5-3 at half time and we didn’t have any ball in the second half so you cannot blame a winger for no ball. It’s difficult to go looking for it if you haven’t got it.
“I rate Radwan massively, he has got quick feet, is electric and is a great lad. He is at the forefront of all our decision-making, first to training and last away. He doesn’t whinge or moan and ticks all the boxes and if we can get a foothold in games then get the ball to him as many times as we can.
“Steve Borthwick has been up here as has Mark Mapletoft, the England U20s coach, and the England conditioners have been here and I don’t know if we are doing something right or wrong but it's good they are voting with their feet and coming up to Newcastle. We have regular dialogue and we just need to win some games. With England A playing this season then Radwan, Callum Chick and Jamie Blamire are three who are outstanding players.
“I know for a fact having been in a similar position with Sale 14 or 15 years ago where people were worried they were not being picked because of the position of the club that is not true here because the relationship with the England coaches is as good as I have ever had it. You can see a gem in whatever environment they are playing in for recognition.”
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Latest Comments
Ireland were ahead nearly the whole game. You got every decision. So who won is all that counts in Match 1, but in Match 2 its 'SA were in control, we should have won'. Thats classic SA supporter nonsense right there.
Go to commentsRazor is rebuilding foundations, as are Schmidt in Australia and Borthwick in England. You could add Wales to the list, but its not obvious there is a solution there. While good results would be great to see, they are not the way to measure these teams at this point.
Supporters should be looking for things like cultural commitment and cohesion, and basics like fitness, passing, tackling, kicking, and set piece execution. Other layers get built on that, including defensive structures, on-field communication, and positional combinations. And while you're building all of that you need to build depth of players in the squad. Its only when you have all of that in good shape that you can really be effective with attacking innovations, game plans, sophisticated game management, and effective tournament planning.
Some teams, including Ireland, France and SA, have been building all of this for years, with coaching continuity and plenty of time to refine it all. Right now, for "rebuild teams", like NZ, Oz and England, to be competitive at all is impressive. But in a couple of years things will be different. They may not be fully in their stride by then, but they will be consistently in the mix against anyone.
By RWC 2027 there are going to be seven or eight teams that will be serious contenders, including all four TRC teams. And I would not be surprised if NZ were ranked #1 at that point.
In the meantime supporters should be hoping for wins, but focusing on continuous improvement. It is what it is.
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