Semi comes through full 80 on return

FIJIAN star Semi Radradra came through his return from a knee injury unscathed – playing twice as long as initially intended as Bristol Bears beat Harlequins 35-33 on Saturday afternoon, writes John Evely.

Centre Radradra, who created a try for Piers O’Conor with a stunning offload, had been out for two months following a tear in a tendon in his knee, but looked bright on his return to action, if slightly rusty.

Playing Radradra ahead of potential back-to-back games in the European Champions Cup was designed to get him up to full speed to face his former club Bordeaux Begles next weekend.

Discussing Radradra, below, who is undoubtedly the central focus of the Bears’ attack, rugby director Pat Lam said: “He was only going to play 40 minutes, but the second half was so slow, it was stop start. The medical team were checking with him and he said ‘I want to stay on’.

“We were about to make a change and bring on Alapati Leiua for him when Niyi Adeolokun started getting cramp.

“Semi ended up playing 80 and there are a few things, particularly around the breakdown, he needs to tidy up, but he showed what he can create.”

Ahead of the game, there was plenty of excitement at seeing Fijians Radradra and Siva Naulago in action together, but the former rugby league winger pulled out before kick-off having been named to start.

Lam explained: “Siva hurt his knee in the last training session and we were hoping he was going to be alright.

“He came out and did a final test before the game, but because we were planning to take Semi off after 40 minutes we needed Siva to be able to go out and play 80 minutes, not just go out and see how it goes.

“We have got so much depth there and Niyi was ready to go, so we made that change.”

The key injury concern which arose on Saturday was to Bears captain Steven Luatua, who left the field in the 20th minute with a slight limp having tried to play for several minutes after taking a blow to his knee in a ruck.

Nathan Hughes was rested for the Quins game and there are no concerns over his fitness.