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Bristol issue Semi Radradra fitness update following last weekend's comeback appearance
By PA
Semi Radradra has boosted Bristol ahead of the Heineken Champions Cup clash with Bordeaux-Begles by declaring himself fit. The Fijian centre returned from a two-month lay-off last weekend as Gallagher Premiership leaders Bristol produced a thrilling comeback to beat Harlequins 35-33 at Ashton Gate.
Bears director of rugby Pat Lam said: “Semi did well. We weren’t planning on him playing 80 but he did. The second half was very stop-start and that worked in his favour. So he is raring to go again. He felt he wasn’t at his best so he has trained well so far.”
While Radradra is ready to take his place against the side he joined Bristol from in July 2020, Bears captain Steven Luatua is set to miss out on Sunday’s round-of-16 clash in France. The New Zealand forward was forced off in the first half against Harlequins with a knee injury.
Lam said: “Steven has had a few tests. Thankfully, structurally things aren’t damaged. But there is a lot of swelling on it, so he is looking doubtful for this week. Of course, it would be great to have him available, like all the players, and it’s important the next guy steps up and gets the job done.”
Bristol are monitoring Fijian wing Siva Naulago’s knee injury, while No8 Nathan Hughes is fit to make the trip to France.
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Latest Comments
If Pollock is in the squad, who gets left out?
"I think the Eddie Jones style development player approach is whats called for"
(i) Why?
(ii) The churn of players under Eddie Jones was generally considered to be quite a bad thing. Do you want Guy Pepper, Ted Hill, Ben Curry, etc. to give up and go to France like Marchant did?
(iii) England already have a really young squad, and especially a young back row. If they do badly in the six nations Borthwick will probably lose his job, so shouldn't they prioritise winning in the short term and developing the players already in the squad, rather than bringing in newer, younger, guys?
(iv) England have a development tour in June. If you really want Pollock to be in the squad prior to graduating the u20s, why not wait until the summer?
Go to commentsWhen England's defence was able to get into shape it could be dominant though (especially in the game against NZ). Is the number of tackles really the main issue?
I get that making loads of tackles is tiring, but so is building multi-phase attacks. I'm just worried England would get tired out from attacking, then struggle to get set when they're subjected to counter attacks.
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