'Oddly, I just sat down with Adam now talking it through'

Dean Richards turned up late to his already rearranged Newcastle media briefing on Thursday due to his need to chew the fat with Adam Radwan after the 24-year-old finished training at the club following his week away with England. With the Falcons not having a Gallagher Premiership match last weekend, Radwan and Jamie Blamire were retained by Eddie Jones in the 27 he kept on at Pennyhill before the Guinness Six Nations round two match away to Italy.  

Neither Newcastle player made the matchday cut, leaving Radwan still searching for his third cap following try-scoring appearances last year versus Canada and Tonga, and life on the fringes is only made harder by how it is a 300-mile trip every time from the northeast of England to the national team training centre at Pennyhill. 

“It must be really difficult for them,” admitted Richards about the current England experience for Radwan and Blamire, being part of the wider squad but falling short when it comes to matchday 23 selection.  

“Having done it for a number of tears myself I sort of understand the pressures on the boys from that perspective and knowing a lot of boys who have done it, and it’s not an easy travel from here as well as you are aware, so it is not quite as straightforward as for other people. We monitor it, we check to see how they are and it does have an impact.”

Radwan will return to club action in this Sunday’s home Premiership match versus Exeter and Richards spend time on Thursday talking through the England feedback that his speedy winger had received.  

“Oddly I just sat down with Adam now talking it through and Eddie was very happy with Adam in certain areas and has given us some pointers which would be a little closer to ours than they have been over the years, so we are all singing off the same hymn sheet and he is getting the right advice.”

What is that advice? “It’s generally just about him as a rugby player improving certain skill sets and that’s it. We all acknowledge he has got incredible pace and it’s about being involved more both in attack and defence and the more that he is the more tries that he will score and the more impacts on the game he will have.”