Video: 15 seconds was all it took for Bristol to score Radradra-inspired try on Friday night
Challenge Cup final winners Bristol couldn’t have dreamt up a better start to their decider against Toulon than Semi Radradra producing some magic to create a try that was scored after just 15 record-breaking seconds at Aix-en-Provence.
The Bears won the final on a 32-19 scoreline at Stade Maurice-David after they produced an unstoppable second-half surge to turn around a 19-13 deficit with 52 minutes gone in their first-ever European showpiece.
Some wonderful pace from the try-scoring Max Malins and the precise kicking boot of Callum Sheedy were pivotal to that successful comeback, but there was no getting away from the wow factor that Bristol had produced right from the kick-off when scoring the quickest try in European rugby history.
Radradra gathered the Toulon kick in the 22 and the Fijian centre attracted the attention of three players as he looked inside and ran towards the left touchline, pulling Bryce Heem in off his wing.
A brilliant pass out of contact to wing Alapati Leiua allowed the Samoan to race up the touchline to halfway before transferring back inside to the supporting Radradra. He then gave scrum-half Harry Randall the assist to allow him to scamper 40 metres to the line to open the scoring.
OH MY WORD! That is how you start a European final @BristolBears ?
DO NOT kick the ball to Semi Radradra, you have been warned!
Breathtaking rugby right from the opening kick-off ?#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/Ys54YhPQk2
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) October 16, 2020
The response the try ignited on Twitter was in keeping with the praise continuously heaped on Radradra ever since he made his summer move from Bordeaux and made a Bristol debut in August.
Radradra continued to be a major influence in the final, nearly having a second try assist to his name in the first half but for a forward pass ruling out a score for Joe Joyce.
The Fijian’s night didn’t end on the pitch, though. He missed the closing stages with a leg injury that rugby fans will hope won’t prevent him from starring for Fiji in next month’s Autumn Nations Cup.
Feels like a real privilege to be watching Semi Radradra play every week.
Not often you get to witness players at 100% peak.
He's making the game look simple.
Like all the greats do.
Effortless.
— Paul Williams (@thepaulwilliams) October 16, 2020
We’re seeing the best of Semi Radradra tonight. What a sight to behold #ChallengeCupRugby #BristolBears
— Edward Barker (@EdwardB24376757) October 16, 2020
Semi Radradra is unbelievable! Fantastic feet and ability to beat and off set players #ChallengeCup #BristolBears
— Jordan Welsh (@jordanwelsh4) October 16, 2020
#BristolBears Radradra is just unbelievable! He makes it look so easy. What a start for them #ChallengeCup
— Daniel Tomlinson (@DCTommo89uk) October 16, 2020
A rose between two thorns ? pic.twitter.com/FkWyhkAWgO
— semi Radradra (@radradra_semi) October 16, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments