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How Radwan has gone from 'worst running technique ever' to England

(Photo by Alex Davidson/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

New England winger Adam Radwan has described some of the measures that he took to help turn him from an unorthodox club novice into a potential Test rugby superstar in the making. It was 2016 when the now 23-year-old first skipped in through the door at Newcastle but his gait came in some initial ridicule.

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Kevin McShane, the Newcastle head of athletic performance, held nothing back when first assessing the teenager who played for the club in that year’s Premiership 7s before spending some time at Darlington Mowden Park and then stepping into the Falcons senior academy in 2017.

McShane claimed Radwan possessed “probably the worst running technique” he had ever seen from a back, a considerable claim given that the coach had been working at Newcastle since 2008 where he began as an academy strength and conditioning coach before making his way through the ranks.

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That must have felt like a huge put-down for the then-teenager, but the criticism became the catalyst that has since turned Radwan into a long-term England prospect after he announced his arrival on the Test rugby stage with a stunning hat-trick in his debut appearance last July.

Despite sitting out this Saturday’s away Premiership trip to Gloucester with what Newcastle describe as a “minor knee problem”, Radwan is in the 34-strong England squad that will head to Jersey next Monday to begin preparations for next month’s series featuring Twickenham matches against Tonga, Australia and South Africa.

He will go there with a technique that he has put plenty of hours into harnessing since that first day when McShane delivered his damning critique. “It has got better but there are definitely still improvements to be made,” said Radwan when asked by RugbyPass how different his running style is now compared to those innocent first steps at Newcastle some years ago.

“We still do loads of work on it. Kev still does loads of work with me and I still aim to get quicker. When I first came when I was running I didn’t really lift my feet up off the floor. I just kind of scuttled across the floor so that was a big one, lifting my knees up a bit more and getting a bit more force through them.

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“At first it was a little bit strange (doing that) because you have to change the way you had been running for quite a while. I watched a clip recently with Kev of when I first came here and now I am running totally different. I don’t really feel it [the difference] now, it’s just the way I run now.”

What has also altered is the weight Radwan is tipping the Falcons scales with. “When I first came to Newcastle I was about 80 or 81kgs maybe and now I am about 89, between 88 and 90, so I have put on a little bit of weight. I have probably grown a bit, probably got a bit taller.”

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AM 40 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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