Radradra looks ready for Fiji debut as Barbarians beat England 63-45

The Barbarians have beaten England 63–45 at Twickenham in a match that has helped grow the BaaBaas legend while also giving Eddie Jones lots to think about as he boards the flight to South Africa.

There was a lot of talk ahead of the game about the powerful runners that the BaaBaas had to call upon in their backs and this was typified by the impact that Semi Radradra throughout the entire game.

In a team of such talent that was always going to be willing to throw caution to the wind, it was the Fijian flyer who really made a name for himself and announced himself on the world rugby stage.

His first season in France has just come to a close with some mixed reviews. He showed plenty of potential and his teammate at Toulon Chris Ashton says he owes his top try scorer position in the French Top 14 to Semi’s ability to provide him with great chances.

But he never really set the league on fire when it came to scoring himself as many predicted and he’s ended up leaving Toulon for rivals Bordeaux for his second season – breaking a few Parramatta hearts in the process.

Today though he was awesome. He scored one try himself, was instrumental in at least two or three others and was a constant threat that the England backs just couldn’t figure out how to handle.

His ability to use his power and pace to break through the first line of defence had a number of old and young England players on the floor with their arms flailing and his offloads were Sonny Bill at his best.

The rest of the BaaBaas played their part as well with Finn Russell especially putting in a great performance at No.10 and beating England for the second time this year following success in the 6 Nations.

He’s really growing as well as a player – he hasn’t lost the impulsive creativity that he built his name on but he is adding a level of control that is going to make him a very dangerous prospect.

England just couldn’t keep up with the pace that the BaaBaas insisted on playing at from the outset. In the first 20 minutes the exhibition side had run in three tries and England were looking totally confused about how to compete.

What is perhaps more scary for Eddie Jones and his team is that the BaaBaas were’t exactly doing anything unexpected and while they always looked to run with ball in hand they weren’t pulling off any incredible set plays or miraculous skills. They just played fast, hard and direct rugby with plenty of support runners.

The problems at the breakdown that plagued England in the Six Nations were still evident and the BaaBaas stole their fair share of ball throughout the game.

On the upside there were some good performances from men in white shirts. Tom Curry was very impressive at No.7 and he could well be a key part of England’s set up for years to come.

Equally Piers Francis and Jack Singleton have done their chances a whole lot of good to figure in the South Africa tour.

The return of Danny Cipriani to an England shirt was always going to be interesting and the reformed rebel looked pretty good and very comfortable with ball in hand.

He showed off a range of skills with some nice passing to put men in space and some deft kicks that gained his team both territory when needed and points when he put Johnny May in for a late try.

England did have their chances and having been 21-0 down they did fight their way back into the game and really should have had the structure and quality to win the match, but whenever they got close the BaaBaas found another opportunity and made something out of nothing.

In the end the England team just couldn’t compete and their insistence on defending in a narrow style always gave players like Ashton, Tuisova, Radradra and Matavesi too much space.

Ironically it was another England exile – Chris Ashton – who enjoyed himself far too much and made the England team pay for giving him some space and a sniff of the try line.

He racked up his hat trick within 25 minutes and while he has clearly lost a yard or two of pace, his ability to be in the right place for the off load and run great lines is better than ever.

While the former Toulon pairing of Ashton and Radradra had the biggest impact, it was down to retiring captain Lobbe to really steal the show at the end.

After the BaaBaas scored one last try on the sound of the hooter, Lobbe came back on to take the conversion and slotted it like he was a No.10. It was a great and fitting end to such a wonderful career.

Radradra well deserved the Man of the Match reward and his coaches at the Fiji National side will be very excited.

Semi has announced that he wants to play for both the XV and 7s national sides and based on today’s performance he will be a real asset for the Pacific Islanders.

He should start in the opening game of the Pacific Nations Cup on 9th June and it won’t be surprising at all if he picks up player of the tournament accolades.

For Eddie Jones it isn’t the end of the line as there were many of his first choice players missing today.

But with a year to go until the World Cup, he would be wanting to add some quality depth to back up his preferred first XV and clearly that depth has a lot of work to do.