Bristol Bears superstar and Flying Fijians 15-a-side captain Semi Radradra took part in a largely amateur sevens tournament in England on Saturday to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games.
Radradra, who was officially named in the Fiji 7s squad today, will be flown in late in the day to link up with the Fijian national side ahead of the 2021 Toyko Games to give the Pacific Island side a boost at they look to win back-to-back gold medals in the shortened version of the game.
Fiji famously won their first gold medal in any event in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games under the coaching of Englishman Ben Ryan.
While Radradra has been ripping it up in the Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Champions Cup for Bristol Bears, who finished top of their domestic league, it has been several years since the 29-year-old played sevens rugby competitively.
So this weekend, just two weeks after playing in Bristol Bears' epic 43-36 extra-time defeat to Harlequins in the Premiership play-off semi-finals, Radradra ran out for charity side the Official Wooden Spoon Marauders Sevens in the Super Sevens Series at Newbury RFC which featured sides from the British Army, Royal Navy, Ealing Trailfinders Academy but also a number of sevens specialist invitational sides.
The competition was won by Samurai Rugby but Radradra's side the Official Wooden Spoon Marauders Sevens won the plate with Bristol's marquee signing - who is widely reported to be one of the highest-paid players in the world - setting up the winning try in golden point extra time.
Meanwhile Fiji 7s coach Gareth Baber has made no secret of his plans for Radradra with the defending champions drawn in a pool with Great Britain, Canada and Japan.
Speaking to The Fiji Times earlier this month, he said: “Semi has exceptional talent and is an exceptional person as well with the influence he can have on other players who are around him.
“He is very well known among the playing group and is a very powerful force.”
“We have one ambition and that ambition is to defend the gold medal, so what I’m going to do is to put a team together to present that.
“Semi is desperate to play at the Olympic Games. He has played for me in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and at the Rugby World Cup Sevens.”
Fiji's preparations for the Olympics has been going well even without Radradra, going undefeated to win their warm-up event the PacificAus Sports Oceania 7s by beating the All Black 7s 17-7 in the final last weekend.
Baber added: “Really Semi in my opinion is a game-breaker and one of the world’s best.
“If you have got one of those who knows the game of sevens like he does, and has played the game of sevens as I know he can do, and if he is fit and healthy and has an ambition to be part of an Olympic campaign, then you know that is what I want to look at.”
