‘X-factor’ Radrada shows Bristol’s intent
Fijian World Cup star signs for next season Lam insists spending is still within the salary cap
Pat Lam, the Bristol director of rugby, hailed blockbuster signing Semi Radradra as a “world-class, Xfactor machine” but insisted his arrival will not push the club over the Premiership salary cap.
Equally comfortable at wing or outside centre, Radradra’s arrival from Bordeaux Begles next summer on a three-year deal is not just a statement of intent for Bristol as the early Premiership pacesetters but for the league as a whole. It has been some time since the Premiership has attracted an overseas superstar, as they tend to gravitate towards the greater riches on offer in France or the less taxing commitments of Japan.
Radradra is the very definition of box office, a player who will put bottoms on seats not just at Ashton Gate but at every ground that he graces next season.
He first made his name in league, scoring 82 tries in 94 games for Parramatta Eels in Australia before moving to the Top 14 to join Toulon three years ago. His raw physicality and freakish offloading made him a star on the global stage at this year’s World Cup, even as Fiji were eliminated in the group stages.
“Every top club across both codes on the planet wanted him,” Lam said. “So for Bristol to be able to bring in a player of his quality underlines the fantastic work that the club is doing. There’s no doubt he’s going to take things to another level. We have a world-class, X-factor machine here.”
For all the excitement that Radradra’s signing has caused, it has also generated plenty of questions in the wake of Saracens’ salary cap scandal of how Bristol can afford him. He is far from Lam’s first big-money signing with former All Blacks Steven Luatua, John Afoa and the league’s highest-paid player Charles Piutau all on the club’s books. According to reports in the Australian media, Bristol outbid Russell Crowe’s South Sydney Rabbitohs by paying him around £750,000 a season.
Lam, however, claims not only are Bristol well under the salary cap of £7million but also that staying beneath it is straightforward. “The salary cap is really easy,” Lam said. “The first thing I did here was sit down with Andrew Rogers [Premiership Rugby’s salary cap manager] and Mark Tainton [Bristol chief executive] and went through everything. The beauty of the way it is set up is that he is the guy who signs off everything so if you have any questions you just ask him before you do anything.
“I haven’t spent any more money than my predecessors. I’ve brought the same contracting and recruitment model as I had at Connacht. It’s really clear – if I put an offer in here, a number changes somewhere else. There’s no way you can go over. I go nowhere near that line. We’re way below it, that’s the exciting thing about it.”
Radradra will fill one of Bristol’s two marquee signing slots, whose salary will sit outside the cap. Fullback Piutau, who occupies one of those berths, is out of contract at the end of the season, but Lam is insistent that he intends to accommodate both players in the same back line. As to the question of how Bristol can keep so many superstars within the salary cap, Lam reeled off a list of more than 20 players either signed from the Championship or as cast-offs from other Premiership clubs. Unlike the penalised Saracens, Bristol only possess a handful of active internationals.
Lam’s pursuit of Radradra began when he coached him in the Barbarians’ 63-45 rout of England at Twickenham in 2018.
“I thought ‘wow’,” Lam said. “I didn’t really know him – but spent some time with him in the Baa-baas and got to know what he was like off the field. I thought ‘Jeez, this guy would be good’. I said to him, ‘If you ever want to come to the UK, you let me know’.”
That call came via his agent during the World Cup. Lam gave Radradra a tour of Ashton Gate and showed him the plans for their new training base, which he reckons will be the best in the northern hemisphere.
“He went away, I wanted him to breathe on it,” Lam said. “I put an offer to him on Monday and he signed it the next day. Done.”
Lam would not comment on speculation linking the club with further moves for England props Kyle Sinckler and Ellis Genge, content that he had generated enough electricity for one day. “Even some players are going, ‘I need to get my autograph book out.’ Everyone is ecstatic,” he smiled.