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Fiji's major gamble on Semi Radradra

(Photo by INPHO via EPCR)

Gareth Baber, the gold medal winning Fiji Sevens coach, has revealed he took a major gamble by picking Bristol’s Semi Radradra, knowing the centre would struggle to reach the fitness levels needed for the Olympic Games in Japan but was confident his experience would be vital in their bid to defend the title on in Rio in 2016.

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Many were surprised that Radradra did not feature in the final which saw Fiji repeat their gold medal triumph by defeating New Zealand 27-12. Although Radradra did not get much game time during the rugby 7s competition, he scored a decisive try against Argentina in the 26-14 semi-final victory.

Radradra was selected despite not having taken part in any of the pre-Games training camps due to Bristol’s Gallagher Premiership campaign which saw them knocked out in the semi-finals. Radradra then worked with the club’s fitness team to try and get himself up to speed for the Games event and flew separately to Japan to link up with Baber and the other squad members.

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As he reflected on the gold medal triumph, Baber told Fiji Times the selection of Radradra was important despite knowing he was off the pace of the other players. “I knew Semi wasn’t at the fitness levels as that of the other boys and there was no way he could get to that,” said Baber.

“I knew having worked with him previously that there will be two or three key areas he could bring higher-level quality of skills to our team, but not only to himself but lead others in that direction.

“I also knew that off the field we still needed strong leadership in the group to be able to bear the stress of a place like Tokyo with the COVID-19 restrictions in games village experience.

“Somebody like Semi has been there and done that and he can still do it.In terms of our culture and how we travelled through the days and the rhythm that we had, he was there.

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“So I think that there was always a gamble in that position and we trusted him.”

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RedWarrior 16 minutes ago
Many England fans echoing the same gripe following Six Nations loss

The English defense was excellent in the first half. This is considering Ireland's attack has improved significantly since the Autumn with former Leinster attack coach Goodman. Ireland were beaten by NZ in the Autumn, are behind SA and arguably behind France so de facto 4th in order (rankings take time to catch up) As Eddie Jones said Ireland are still in that elite group so England's domination in the first half is noteworthy.

I believe they have spent the time since the Autumn largely on defence. On broken play they were relying on Smiths instint along with some jiggery pokery. For Smiths early line break a Twindaloo blocked Baird which left the gap for smith. It looked like he did Aki, but Baird was a little late arriving and clever play by Tom Curry allowed the gap for Smith. Earls line break was Smith spotting Baird coming out and beating him with a beautiful pass to Earl.

We saw the rehearsed plays for a couple of Ireland's tries. The Aki try was just identifying that England tended to hide Smith on the wing creating a vulnerability which Ireland exploited with one of Akis great finishes.

Although Ireland were relaxing at the end the two English tries were good enough quality and we may see more of it next week (Scotland will also have taken note).

Although on the easier side of the draw Borthwick almost took England to a RWC final.

But in common with the top4 you need to have firepower to get those tries in big games. Can Borthwick manage that? I don't think so.

Next week even if England have a great first half again, you would be looking at France converting 3 of those Irish chances and pushing on after the break.

Can Borthwick develop a plan to beat France in the next few years. If the answer is no England need to find someone who can.

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