Missing out on the chance to represent your country at the World Cup would be a bitter blow to any hopeful, but Newcastle Falcons winger Adam Radwan has remained resolutely sanguine after finding himself in the unpleasant position of not making England’s 41-man training squad.
Like any player, the two-cap winger clearly found this setback a “massive disappointment”, and did not shirk away from expressing his disappointment at Canterbury’s recent boot launch, but accepted that such setbacks are a reality of professional sport. And like any good professional, it has only made him hungrier to break into Steve Borthwick’s squad in the future.
The 25-year-old was capped twice under Eddie Jones, scoring a hat-trick against Canada in July 2021 and another try against Tonga later that year, but then had to settle for being in and out of camps under the Australian. Borthwick has not called upon the winger yet during his tenure, which is partly down to a self-confessed slump in form last season.
“I haven’t really had a conversation with Steve [Borthwick] about it, but I can admit to myself that I had a pretty considerable dip in form unfortunately at what I would consider to be the wrong time,” Radwan said.
“Right at the back end of the season, I started to pick up a bit. That is the challenge for me now though, I want to really establish consistency and to make sure I am playing my best for the whole season. Although it is a massive disappointment to not be involved, I have had surgery recently so I am not actually fit at the moment.
“Professional sport is full of highs and lows and I think you need to learn to take the rough with the smooth. I feel that is something I am relatively good at.
“What I need to do now is to look at why I had that dip in form, analyse why it happened and improve. I don’t want to build it up into something it doesn’t need to be. It is a setback, but I think it is something that makes you really hungry and what makes you really driven to work hard and achieve what you want to achieve.”
Radwan is actually out of action currently having undergone surgery on his thumb after representing the Barbarians at Twickenham against the World XV at the end of May. He will return to a much-changed Newcastle ahead of next season though.
Of all the clubs in the Gallagher Premiership, the Falcons have seen the greatest change of scenery this summer, not only by welcoming a raft of new players, but a new head coach as well with the arrival of former England assistant coach Alex Codling. Radwan believes that this change in philosophy at Kingston Park will only boost his England chances in the future.
“On a more personal level, it is all about trying to get myself back in the England squad,” he said. “There have been loads of changes at Newcastle, with new staff coming in, loads of new players coming in, all pulling together for this new vision. So it is a really exciting time of year for this club, and for me as well.
“I’m technically ineligible to train because I’m in a cast, but I still see myself having a long-term involvement with England in the future. Going back to the stuff at Newcastle, we have changed quite a lot and we want to play a much more expansive game where we get the ball to the wingers a lot more. Hopefully this will put me in a place to get back into contention to be in and around the England squad.
“If I am playing my best rugby week-in, week-out for Newcastle, then ultimately that is going to put me in a great position to be in contention for the England squad.”
Though Radwan and Newcastle are just on the foothills of Codling’s project in the north east, he likes what he sees so far. He said: “He’s been brilliant and he has got this vision and he is really keen to drive the club forward and I think it is going to be a really exciting period.”
Canterbury Ambassador, Adam Radwan was speaking about the new Speed Infinite Elite rugby boots, watch the launch video here: https://youtu.be/J22Rkyjbogs
