Pat Lam admits Bristol Bears star Semi Radradra “isn’t far off” a first-team return but it seems unlikely the centre will be rushed back for Thursday’s showpiece match against South Africa at Ashton Gate.
Radradra hasn’t played since April after undergoing knee surgery, with the Fijian international initially scheduled to return in early October only for that timeline to be extended into November. Radradra tweeted a picture of himself training at the High Performance Centre earlier this week, indicating he’s nearing selection.
The 30-year-old wasn’t involved in the Bears squad on Friday night as they beat Cardiff 31-12 in a friendly but with the Springboks in BS3 next week, that represents an opportunity to give him gametime before the next Premiership encounter against Sale on November 26.
The South Africa fixture at Ashton Gate is a sell-out and a game that Lam believes is the biggest played in their home stadium by the Bears, and because of the occasion there will be a need to field a strong side to match the gravitas of the evening. However, Lam must balance that with the need of getting his team right for Sale, as Bears look to address a run of five defeats that has seen them plummet down the standings.
Speaking on Friday night, in the wake of the victory over Cardiff, while it's five days before the visit of the world champions, Lam hinted at keeping Radradra back another week to make sure he is absolutely right, rather than risk him against the Springboks.
“He’s not far off, we just want to make sure. Hopefully he’ll be back very soon,” Lam said. “The priority is making sure everyone is right for Sale but there are a lot of guys who were out there today (against Cardiff) who will be available for Thursday.”
“Over the next three games there a lot of boys coming back, so we start to strengthen the team and the squad; we’ve had a lot of key players out but we’re all looking forward to next week - it’s the biggest game in the stadium for us; everything is sold out, it’s going to be an unbelievable night and we’re all excited by it.
“We want them right at their best, there’s no reason for them not to be and that’s the challenge for us, to select the right group and we’re all looking forward to it.”
The Bears put five tries past Cardiff on Friday night, with Harry Arschel, Jake Kerr, Will Porter and Joe Jenkins all touching down in the first half before Harry Thacker added a gloss to the scoreline late on.
It proved a successful exercise for Lam in ensuring his first-team squad remain conditioned, due to the break in the Premiership schedule as they were scheduled to play Worcester. It also allowed the squad to experience the winning feeling again, after such a challenging month in October.
However, there was cause for concern before kick-off with three late changes made to the matchday squad, most notably with starters Joe Joyce and Ioan Lloyd withdrawn.
The pair had sustained injuries in training on Thursday and, with regards to second row Joyce who had initially been named captain for the night, there was no need to risk him in what was a friendly. However, versatile back Lloyd - who played 39 minutes against Saracens last week - could be out for several weeks with an undisclosed problem, as his stop-start campaign in 2022/23 continues.
“They got injured in training,” Lam added. “It’s not a game where we needed to take the risk with Joycey. Ioan’s injury might be a few more weeks but Joycey has a knock in his calf and with next week coming up, we didn’t need to take that risk.”
