Radwan focusing on club form
The North Yorkshireman joins up with a 45-man England training squad for a mini-camp in London on Sunday, but not before his club have made the Gallagher Premiership trip to Bath the day before.
Radwan was at his evasive best in last weekend’s season opener, scoring a try himself and making one for fellow wing Iwan Stephens with a typically eye-catching run.
“It’s obviously great to get that call-up from England and I loved my involvement over the summer, but I know it all starts with how I’m playing for the Falcons,” said the 23-year-old, who has scored 37 tries in his 47 competitive outings for Newcastle.
“I can’t lose sight of that main focus of just trying to be consistent for the Falcons, and if other things follow on the back of that then great. If I’m not playing well for Newcastle I’m not going to get picked for England, and so that’s all I’m thinking about.”
A firm favourite on the Kingston Park terraces, Radwan relished the return of supporters in proper numbers as more than 6,000 of them roared his team on during last weekend’s 26-20 loss against champions, Harlequins.
“It was nice to be playing at home with a big crowd again, and the players absolutely loved that,” he said.
“We had two games at the end of last season with limited crowds, which was nice, but to be getting three or four times that number was just fantastic.
“It was a shame about the result but the boys aren’t too downbeat, because we produced some good stuff.
“There were a lot of positives to take, and with having a relatively inexperienced back line we know we’re only going to get better as a group. Yeah, we’re disappointed, but it’s a long season.
“We have to move on quickly because we’ve got another big game down at Bath on Saturday, and hopefully a repeat of the win we had down there on the first weekend of last season.
“I really feed off the energy of the crowd – the louder the better – and the same goes for away games. I just seem to enjoy that pressure environment, and Bath on Saturday should be another great opportunity for us.”
Not the only winger to catch the headlines last weekend, Radwan reserved fulsome praise for teenage flyer Iwan Stephens, whose supporting line from his own run created the Premiership’s try of the week.
“Iwan is rapid, but not only that, he changes direction really well and has that balance,” said Radwan.
“He’s only 19 and will get even better, and we’ve then got a load of other players who can do an amazing job there as well.
“We’re very lucky as a club, everyone pushes each other and you definitely can’t be complacent about keeping your shirt.”
