Latest news with #AdamRadwan
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Both teams to score 20+ points each and Leicester to win today BOOSTED to 5/1 - as the Tigers take on Bath in the Gallagher Premiership final
In addition to the head-to-head odds outlined in a previous article - Sky Bet are offering two Price Boosts for today's Gallagher Premiership final between Bath and Leicester at Twickenham. The first Price Boost requires both teams to score 20 or more points each and Leicester to win. The odds for that particular bet have been enhanced from 4/1 to 5/1 courtesy of Sky Bet. Leicester scored 21 points en route to a semi-final win over Sale Sharks at home last weekend. Meanwhile, the another boost is valued at 6/1 odds and needs Bath to win by 6-10 points. Last year's Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham was decided by less than ten points - a game in which Bath were on the wrong end of the scoreboard. Sky Bet Price Boosts for today's Gallagher Premiership final: Both teams to score 20+ points each and Leicester to win WAS 4/1 NOW 5/1 Bath to win by 6-10 points WAS 5/1 NOW 6/1 Adam Radwan or Ollie Hassell-Collins to score the first try WAS 13/2 NOW 15/2 Joe Cokanasiga, Tom Dunn, Will Muir all to score tries WAS 12/1 NOW 14/1 All odds are correct at the time of publication
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Are you not entertained? Thrilling club finales show tribal rugby at its best
The final week of every domestic season is always an indicator of rugby's underlying health. Are supporters crawling over their grandmothers in their haste to buy a finals ticket? Is the entertainment value of the product trending upwards year on year? And are there collective signs of rising positivity among players, tournament organisers and fans alike? These are especially relevant questions right now amid all the exciting/delusional (take your pick) chatter about a possible breakaway global franchise league. And before we contemplate this year's answers let's hope those looking to flog the concept of a Formula One-style circus featuring the world's top players were watching last Friday night's game in Bath. Advertisement Related: Rugby's breakaway R360 league labelled 'delusional' by leading TV sport executive Because it could be that club rugby, too often dismissed in certain circles as tired old hat, has never enjoyed a more vibrant, upbeat few weeks out on the field. The first half between Bath and Bristol Bears was as thrillingly watchable and intense as the Premiership has ever been. The pace and ambition, the handling and defensive desire … all of it was spectacular with the atmosphere similarly super-charged. Driving home – and leaving aside the losing side's' natural disappointment – it was hard not to think 'what more could anyone want'? A brilliant spectacle, a riot of passion and colour, an outstanding advert for the sport. Along with the French Open tennis men's final it refreshed parts not all sports are able to reach. And then the following day, albeit in a contrasting way, there was more to relish. Rugby is not solely about fleet-footed wingers pulling rabbits from a hat but Adam Radwan's airborne second try was absolutely out of the top drawer. These were club fixtures masquerading as something else, as the Tigers' head coach Michael Cheika duly confirmed on Monday. 'As competitions get towards the end of the season the big games look like Test matches. The physicality, the speed … if you look at the data they start to look similar. Test matches are a unique entity but this competition prepares players equally as well as any other. There's no doubt about that.' Advertisement Which is interesting, coming from someone who has coached all over the world. Above all, though, the outcome seriously mattered. The best sport is not about artifice or glossy marketing: it is wincingly authentic and, ideally, tribal. Bath have not won a domestic league title for 29 years and now stand 80 minutes away from breaking that drought. You could absolutely feel that pent-up desire at the Rec on Friday evening. No wonder this Saturday's Twickenham final sold out weeks ago. All this on the back of Northampton's remarkable Champions Cup semi-final win over Leinster in Dublin last month, another occasion that ranked up there with the greatest away wins the competition has ever witnessed. The final in Cardiff between the Saints and Bordeaux-Bègles was another exhilarating cracker. Ambassador, you really are spoiling us. The situation in the United Rugby Championship, admittedly, is more complex, with only a strictly limited period available in which to sell the final between Leinster and the Bulls in Croke Park. The organisers will be happy if the attendance creeps up to the 50,000 mark; being able to pre-sell tickets to a final at a venue confirmed well in advance would clearly help. But overall this season the URC expects to announce another overall attendance record and in the Premiership average attendances are up 10% this year with a million new fans attracted to games. While none of this can airbrush away all the sport's wider issues around financial instability and player welfare concerns, it should not be entirely dismissed either. If rugby is appealing to newbies and simultaneously delighting its existing followers, it must be doing something right. Advertisement So the first couple of questions posed in the opening paragraph can pretty much be ticked off. The third step to heaven now involves sustaining that momentum into this weekend and learning lessons from last year. Then, as now, Bath were involved in the Premiership final and were looking good in the first-half against Northampton until Beno Obano was sent off for a marginally high tackle on Juarno Augustus. In that split second the mood of the whole occasion completely changed. A year on, the game is still trying to balance on the same precarious high wire, caught between a well-intentioned desire to make the game safer and wanting to protect its physical appeal. History may well conclude that these twin aims have long since been incompatible, with the science suggesting repeated small blows to the brain over a long period can ultimately be worse than one or two clear-cut knock outs. Perhaps the biggest passion killer on high-profile days, accordingly, is the sight of referees staring endlessly at big screens, trying to make definitive calls based on selective slowed-down replays or the opinions of a bossy television match official in a booth somewhere. Even then the truth is frequently elusive. In the recent Challenge Cup final, Sam Underhill was shown just a yellow card for his head-on-head tackle on Davit Niniashvili; subsequently the England flanker was banned for four weeks and misses this weekend's Twickenham finale. Go figure. Such maddening inconsistency continues to do rugby a disservice at precisely the moment the players are ramping things up. Imagine an oval-ball world where the skill, speed, commitment and collective enjoyment on display in Bath last Friday was the consistent takeaway. Hopefully this weekend will be similarly uplifting and restore a little more faith in the battered old game. Opt, instead, for the empty-headed, soulless R360 proposal and rugby union will reap what it sows. One to watch Leicester's return to Twickenham for the Premiership final offers a fitting stage for Ben Youngs and Dan Cole to bid farewell on their last appearances for the Tigers before their top-level retirement. With Michael Cheika, Handré Pollard and the popular Puma hooker Julián Montoya, among others, also about to depart the club, there will no shortage of emotional energy for the Tigers to feed off. Should they win on Saturday there will certainly be requests for a repeat performance from Montoya's father, who marked his first visit to Welford Road with an impromptu celebratory dance in the stands after last Saturday's semi-final. An Argentinian version of Tiger Feet – the Tiger Tango? – may be called for if Bath are unexpectedly beaten. French test Talking about brilliant viewing, did you see the sensational try that helped to propel Montauban back into the Top 14, at Grenoble's expense, for the first time in 15 years? If you live in the UK there is now more chance you will have done so: the play-off games in the French Pro D2 have been available for free on the FR-UK Rugby channel on YouTube, the rights having been secured by the podcaster and broadcaster Tim Cocker with the former England flanker Joe Worsley – now coaching at Brive – as a co-commentator. It is a smart move, with the French second tier increasingly supplying both excellent rugby and intriguing storylines. Can Grenoble now win the Top 14/Pro D2 Access match against Perpignan – who beat Toulouse in their final game of the regular season – this Saturday and join Montauban in the top flight? What a compelling prospect it is – and, hopefully, one which will remind England's rugby authorities about the value of end-of-season promotion/relegation jeopardy. Memory lane In September 1998, Australia faced Fiji in Sydney in, of all things, a RWC qualification match. The Wallabies, captained by John Eales who went on to lift the trophy again the following year, ran out 66-20 victors at Parramatta Stadium, in the only Test played between the two sides between 1985 and 2007. Lock-forward Eales kicked nine conversions and a penalty for 21 of Australia's points. Still want more? Is the R360 breakaway league the cure to rugby union's ills, wonders Andy Bull. And check out our weekly email of editors' picks, The Recap. Sign up here to receive it every Sunday morning.
Telegraph
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
The case for and against Adam Radwan being picked for England
Elbows out, index fingers down; Adam Radwan's try celebration has become happily familiar to fans of Leicester Tigers. How delighted they will be that it is still being performed in June. Radwan's routine, it turns out, is how the 27-year-old signals a checkout in darts matches between Leicester colleagues on Thursday nights. Sources have suggested that Dan Kelly and James Whitcombe devised the gesture. But it is Radwan who is running with it – quite spectacularly. At the end of January, his signing was heralded with a mischievous post on the Tigers' X account. 'Level up' was its caption, offering the rather mean-spirited interpretation that the wing was improving his lot by leaving Newcastle Falcons. A kinder way of viewing this was that Tigers were acquiring an individual who could enhance them with rare X-factor; electric pace and sharp predatory instincts. Leicester can hardly have dreamed of a more profound impact and their management deserve huge credit for their proactivity in securing a mid-season transfer. Radwan has not been the singular catalyst of their surge to the Premiership final. Ollie Chessum has been phenomenal in two critical victories over Sale Sharks, Emeka Ilione is proving to be a remarkably influential replacement and Hanro Liebenberg keeps producing excellent performances. Emeka Ilione makes the tackle on the phase before his pivotal jackal as well. Ooosh. Giving him a proper run might be one of the most significant legacies that Michael Cheika leaves from his time at Tigers. — Charlie Morgan (@CharlieFelix) June 7, 2025 Bidding farewell to popular figures such as Julián Montoya, Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and Handre Pollard will have had a galvanising effect as well. All that said, Radwan has undoubtedly energised Tigers. A brace of tries on Saturday afternoon against Sale Sharks, comprising a pair of short-range finishes that still required explosive athleticism, brought his Leicester tally to 11 in 10 appearances. Adam Radwan that is sensational! 😮 An unbelievable catch and finish for his second try, after a Pollard cross field kick. Watch live on TNT Sports & Discovery+ — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) June 7, 2025 Winning silverware will have been a major motivation for trading the North East for the East Midlands and Radwan now has a crack at Bath in what should be a compelling domestic decider at Twickenham. But it is also tempting to wonder whether his England career will end as it currently stands; on the two caps he earned against USA and Canada back in the Covid summer of 2021, which yielded four tries in total. That feels fleeting; an insufficient reflection of his assets. And a British and Irish Lions summer, which will see at least Tommy Freeman and Elliot Daly tour with the invitational side, means there is no time like the present for Steve Borthwick to see if Radwan can ride his Leicester form back into the Test arena. The case for picking Radwan As a team-mate of Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse with the Springboks, Pollard knows about the upside of trusting livewire wings and has thoroughly enjoyed joining forces with Radwan. 'He is one of those freak athletes who can make something out of nothing,' Pollard said of Radwan last week. 'He has got an amazing skill-set but he understands the game more than we thought originally. It is our responsibility to give those guys space and time on the ball because that's when the magic happens. 'Each team has its own identity and you need players who fit that style, but when a player has a point of difference in a game and can do something special where they can turn a game on its head at any moment, I would rather have that than an all-round guy.' On Saturday afternoon, in what was a tight and often cagey contest, Radwan was able to conjure defining moments. His first try was no walk-in, even if Jack van Poortvliet's pass found him in a very dangerous position. Radwan bounced dynamically off his right foot, causing three covering defenders – Luke Cowan-Dickie, Raffi Quirke and Arron Reed – to over-chase hopelessly. Who else? ⚡️ It's Adam Radwan with the pace inside after a strong @LeicesterTigers scrum! #GallagherPrem | #LEIvSAL — Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) June 7, 2025 The second, an acrobatic dive akin to a cricketer snaffling a stunner in the outfield, actually spared Pollard a degree of embarrassment. The kick-pass to find Radwan, who was all on his own with Sale's defence terminally narrow, was a wobbly one. Another instant in the first half hinted at what a weapon Radwan can be in fractured exchanges. Pollard steered a diagonal strike in behind Sale and into space. Radwan pinned back his ears and scuttled up-field. Had the ball stayed in, rather than dribbling into touch for a 50:22, the arch marksman might have had a hat-trick. It called to mind how Louis Bielle-Biarrey has scorched the earth in transition situations to plunder tries for Union Bordeax-Bègles and France. Bielle-Biarrey is not completely polished. He is not always secure under the high ball, as Freeman demonstrated by climbing above him for England during the Six Nations, yet Fabien Galthié clearly believes – with some justification – that the benefits of picking a flying machine are worthwhile. If Borthwick wants to go to width and give rival defences a major headache, while backing coaches to smooth Radwan's rough edges, surely a gamble is worthwhile. The case against picking Radwan England boast impressive options on the wing, which obviously mitigates the opportunity to select Radwan this summer. Tom Roebuck has enjoyed a fine campaign. Ollie Sleightholme is fit again and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso seems to be near full health. Cadan Murley deserves to be considered after a strong return for Harlequins, Will Muir has been among Bath's leading lights. Gabriel Ibitoye, Tobias Elliott, Ollie Hassell-Collins have all represented England A this term. Whether we like it or not, aerial skills are an integral aspect for these wide men – perhaps more so since the crackdown on 'escorting' chasers away from defensive catchers. In one moment close to the dramatic finale of Saturday afternoon, with Tigers ahead 21-16, Radwan caught the eye for the wrong reason. Pursuing a Ben Youngs box-kick, he appealed to badly misjudge the flight of the ball and up-ended Joe Carpenter. He conceded a penalty, which could easily have brought a card, and invited pressure onto the Tigers: Such errors are not uncommon. Will Muir committed one in the Challenge Cup final against Lyon and was sin-binned. But without a jackal turnover from Ilione, Radwan's game would have been remembered less fondly as a result. Hassell-Collins on the other Leicester flank is more convincing under the high ball. Borthwick obviously covets an ability for wings to roam into midfield and link attacks, which perhaps helped to nudge Elliott into the latest England training squad rather than Radwan. We now wait to see whether Tigers' latest triumph has altered that thinking as well as earning Leicester a passage to Twickenham. Verdict A summer tour presents Borthwick and his coaches with several weeks to refine any weaknesses they perceive in Radwan's game, which must be tempting. What comes naturally to him would surely elevate England, as his presence has improved Leicester. I would have Roebuck, Feyi-Waboso, Murley and Muir above him – just. But if one of those drops out for whatever reason, Radwan should be the next cab off the rank as a wildcard. There will always be unfortunate omissions from an England squad and Sleightholme, another who has struggled with injury over recent months, is sacrificed in this instance. Few would begrudge Radwan a chance to enact his darts celebration at the top level.
Straits Times
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
Radwan double leads Leicester into final with 21-16 win over Sale
Leicester Tigers set up a Premiership Rugby final against Bath at Twickenham with a 21-16 victory over Sale Sharks on Saturday, boosted by winger Adam Radwan's two first-half tries which laid the platform for the win. Radwan showed extraordinary pace, quick feet and athleticism for his scores as Leicester also crossed the tryline through Izaia Perese, the latter's game-breaking effort with the scores level at 16-16 was the winning moment in the match. The Sharks stayed in the game via the boot of George Ford, with Rob du Preez scoring their only try midway through the second half. Welford Road said goodbye to a trio of club stalwarts in prop Dan Cole, following 342 first team appearances, scrumhalf Ben Youngs and hooker Julian Montoya. They will hope to finish their Leicester careers with a trophy in next Saturday's final. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Radwan double as Leicester secure tough win over Sale
June 7 (Reuters) - Leicester Tigers set up a Premiership Rugby final against Bath at Twickenham with a 21-16 semi-final victory over Sale Sharks on Saturday, boosted by winger Adam Radwan's two first-half tries which laid the platform for the win. Radwan showed extraordinary pace, quick feet and athleticism for his scores as Leicester also crossed the tryline through Izaia Perese, the latter's game-breaking effort with the scores level at 16-16 was the winning moment in the match. The Sharks stayed in the game via the boot of George Ford, with Rob du Preez scoring their only try midway through the second half. There was a hint of controversy in the final play when Freddie Steward's tackle on Luke Cowan-Dickie was deemed legal following a review, the latter knocking the ball on in the contact to end the game. Welford Road said goodbye to a trio of club stalwarts on a high note as prop Dan Cole, following 342 first team appearances, scrumhalf Ben Youngs and hooker Julian Montoya leave the club at the end oft he campaign. "Today was mental, I could not be prouder. We are one win away (from the trophy)," Montoya told TNT Sports. "I like living things with passion and emotion, I love this team so much. The important thing is we trust each other. "Sale had an unbelievable season, today was a proper game." Leicester are record 11-time winners of the competition and last lifted the trophy in 2022. They kept up their record of never having lost a Premiership playoff match at home. The teams traded penalties before Leicester scored the first try as a long pass put Radwan in space on the right wing and he sidestepped tree defenders before diving over. Radwan added a second try before the half-hour mark and this one was a superb finish. Handre Pollard's cross-kick looked as though it would elude the winger, but he put in an acrobatic dive to collect the ball and cross the tryline in one motion. Leicester led 13-3 and as the heavens opened early in the second half, the ball became much more difficult to handle in the wet, with both teams guilty of unforced errors. A well-worked backline move created space for Du Preez to cross the tryline under the posts and a George Ford penalty levelled the score at 16-16. Almost immediately, however, a rampaging driving maul presented an attacking opportunity for Leicester and Perese burst through a gap to score the winning points.
