Under-used Adam Radwan is a 'touchy' subject

Steve Diamond has built a reputation as a hard-nosed operator skilled in identifying talent and getting the best out of his players.

But he has also shown a keen eye for figures. In announcing his team to face Exeter on Friday night, the Falcons consultant DoR spoke of the need to get Adam Radwan into the game more often and the Opta stats bear him out.

Determined to reap much more benefit from one of his most dangerous attacking runners, he said: “We’ve sat down with our back-three guys and shown them clips of players like Chris Ashton, Jason Robinson and those sorts of guys coming infield and looking for work. I don’t think that’s been in the ethos here for quite some years, but we’ve got to find a way to get someone like Adam Radwan into the game more.

“It’s designing plays or getting him to see opportunities where he can isolate defenders and get one-on-ones, but our attack has been too sideways and predictable. The wingers have been glued to their touchlines, but we need to mix it up more. The coaches and players are on with that job, but we need to be more ruthless with it. Guys like Radders should be getting more touches than they are, and it’s definitely something we’re working on.”

Recently, Diamond spoke of how Premiership rivals have started circling around their best talent like hawks. And you’d think that a game-breaker like Radwan, in addition to club captain Callum Chick and hooker Jamie Blamire, would be top prey for those Premiership predators.

But with every passing defeat - it's 25 and counting in the Premiership for the Falcons - and with every game where he barely has a sniff of a chance, the 26-year-old looks less of a catch and less likely to add to the two England caps he won in 2021. Like Louis Rees-Zammit in the final year of his Gloucester spell, the electric Radwan is criminally under-used.

Taking into account wingers who have played at least 80 minutes or rugby across the first four rounds of the Premiership season, Radwan is fourth bottom for ‘involvements’, touching the ball an average of 6.3 times per game.

But when the stats are applied to players with more than 80 minutes under his belt, Radwan is bottom of the pile. If that ratio is applied to a player who makes 25 appearances and is on £150,000 a year, which is circa the average Premiership salary, that’s roughly a grand a touch!

As well as watching past greats like Robinson and Ashton, Radwan would do well to follow in the footsteps of Exeter’s England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who hasn’t missed a minute of action, or a beat, averaging 15.5 touches per 80 minutes.

Elliot Daly, of Saracens, has a slightly better record, as does Feyi-Waboso’s Chiefs team-mate, Olly Woodburn, but that pair have only played 80 minutes on the wing, having been deployed mainly at full-back and outside-centre this season.

*Stats supplied by Opta