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Semi Radradra is a 'marked man'

By Chris Jones
(Photo by PA)

Semi Radradra is a “marked man” but Fiji Sevens head coach Gareth Baber is backing the Bristol centre to play a key role in the defence of the Olympic Games gold medal in Japan after he linked up with his team mates who arrived on a freight flight hauling mostly frozen fish.

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Radradra travelled from London while the rest of the players flew from Australia to Fiji and then onto Japan with the final destination their training camp in Oita. Lorraine Mar, the chief executive of the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee, said that arranging travel for the Fiji team to Tokyo had been a “logistical challenge”. Mar told AP around 51 athletes and officials, mostly the Fiji men’s and women’s sevens squad, were travelling from Nadi on a regularly-scheduled freight flight which has some capacity for passengers.

The Fiji teams were originally expected to fly directly from Australia to Tokyo, but plans were changed at the last minute due to new COVID-19-related restrictions in Asia.

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Radradra has been following is own fitness regime with Bristol’s conditioning staff and quarantine restrictions have meant he has not taken part in any sevens training sessions until this point with his teammates with the whole squad moving to Tokyo on July 22 for the Games.

However, the 29-year-old did play for a Fijian invitation side in the super sevens tournament in Newbury last weekend and while that is some way from the standard of competition Radradra will face in Tokyo, Baber believes the former Flying Fijian captain’s exceptional talents made him a unique case for selection.

Baber said: “Semi is marked man and has played a lot of rugby but has been well looked after by Bristol and is a big investment for them. We know that wherever we go we have a target on our backs and have to put it all together to defend the gold medal.

“We would have had Semi in Australia but we couldn’t because he would have faced two weeks quarantine and so we targeted him going straight to Japan.

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“Semi is a very humble individual and a superb athlete and it will be great for the younger guys to be around him and understand what it takes to be an international rugby player. You wouldn’t do this with many players but someone of Semi’s capabilities means you have to look at it.

“Semi has been working with the Bristol conditioning coaches and has had a full season in England. He is healthy and has been training in Bristol and he has done this before. He is a player who played in the World Series previously with just one week preparation.

“I have had conversations with Semi all along and if we had opportunities in the HSBC World Series he would have come in with us before this stage.

“When this (Olympic cycle) started it was explained to everyone that there were potential players coming in from Europe and it’s happened before. Originally, we thought we would get four or five tournaments to prepare the team for Tokyo and it is a tough gig for anyone.

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“A number of the young players in our squad have not met Semi before and he has particular skills set and behaviours that are influential within the group and beneficial to the team. I enjoy working with him and I can only see benefits for having him with us.

“This is international rugby and we have a lot of inexperience players and its important you have players who have performed at that standard and Semi has played in a World Cup in Japan and has a strong sevens background.”

Baber has taken heart from the victories over New Zealand and Australia at the Oceania tournament – their only warm up event before the Olympic Games.“The reality is that no team has the build-up they really wanted and without the Series you are on a shorter runway anyway.

“The intensity of the games and the physicality we brought to it in Australia was good but there are work ons and you have to be careful you don’t get carried away and objectively see what we have to do to progress. We know that every team is positioning themselves to get a lift before Tokyo.

“The players dealt with quarantine in Australia and then came out in Townsville and put it together which was very satisfying. In the next two weeks we will try and build on that and some. We won’t be playing any games before the Olympics start and so Townsville was our only tournament.”

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Jon 25 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

32 Go to comments
j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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