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After an understated display in his Bristol debut last weekend, Semi Radradra has reminded the world what he's capable of
By Online Editors
When the Gallagher Premiership returned to screens around the world last weekend, fans were especially excited about the prospect of seeing the competition's latest signings on display for their new clubs.
Two of the men that attracted the most attention were World Cup stars Manu Tuilagi and Semi Radradra, who are well known for their abilities to draw in defenders and then send them packing.
It was a quiet weekend for the two stars in their debuts for Sale and Bristol, however, with their respective sides both struggling to shake off the rust from the massive break in play - and the weather didn't exactly promote open field running.
Thankfully, there were no such complaints during Tuilagi and Radradra's second outings for their newly adopted clubs, with the flying Fijian, in particular, receiving plenty of ball and causing havoc for this weekend's opponents, Gloucester.
While Radradra managed just six touches in Bristol's narrow victory over Saracens last week, the action flowed his way on Friday and the burly midfielder accrued 16 runs - chalking up 130 running metres in the process.
Radrdra scored the Bears' bonus point try in the 29th minute of their encounter with Gloucester and provided the final pass for two more of Bristol's scores.
Unsurprisingly, fans were full of praise for the Bears' Fijian import on Twitter.
Semi Radradra has had the best half hour I've seen someone play in a long time.
He is on one.
— The Loose Head (@TheLooseH) August 21, 2020
Following the match, Gloucester head coach George Skivington admitted that it's impossible not to be impressed by Radradra.
"He is pretty special, isn’t he? There were two or three showings of what he’s made of. He is an outstanding player.”
Bristol's 33-24 victory ensured they will retain second spot on the Premiership standings for the round, eight shy of Exeter - who also picked up a win. The two ladder leaders will go head to head on Tuesday with plenty of changes expected for both sides, given the quick turn-around.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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