Times article timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_le ... ecall.html

Times article timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_le ... ecall.html

Great news for Wigan.

Any extra coaching experience that Kris can get will be fantastic.

fantastic news for kris,

one of the best moves tony smith could of made bringing in ex players. lets hope theres more to come like scully.

Superb stuff. It's exactly the type of appointment the England side needs.

I'd get another couple of guys involved like Sculthorpe or Barrie McDermott just to give the players that link between the coach and themselves. These are the type of guys that the current players have played with and respect.

Whats Rads situation here at Wigan? does he do anything at all with the first team? i'd have hope he would be involved somewhere.

Aye. I'm sure he can pass on alot of experience given his superb international career.

what did you say could you please change m?

Yes, he can actually.

Unfortunately, the teams he was involved with were not successful. It doesn't mean he's any less of an excellent ex-international player.

scholarship manager according to the article

Not trolling, but do you think he was "excellent" for GB?

I genuinely don't (and it's not an anti Wigan thing because there are dozens of Wigan players who most certainly were, including the much maligned Farrell).

I think there are a fair few more obvious candidates for inspiration for our international team.

Go on then, who are the fair few.

Your top 10.

I can't fault him and he never looked out of place.

On an international stage he stepped upto the plate more than some of his team mates.

I'd say he was excellent, but was never exceptional.

Being a bit of a sceptic i do sometimes wonder why these appointments are made other than to stir up a bit of media attention. Will be good for Kris to get in with the likes of Smith, but in truth i am not sure in real terms what it will do for the International teams. It smacks of a cost cutting exercise somewhat ie bring someone in on the cheap who has played the game to talk to the younger players over actually appointing or providing some contact with Sports Psychologists etc.

I can see the benefit of having a player come in but think the impact will be pretty limited and it is simply an attempt to con the fan that the right strides are being made when in truth i think they could do much more.

Retro eight panel ball in that picture.

What ever happened to them?

He was gash for GB, along with many others. Wheather he was in an unsuccessful team or not is irrelevent. His individual performances were awful. 1 try in 20+ tests against the Aussies/Kiwi's (I think) is shocking for a full back. - He's one of the biggest international failures of all time.

Love the name

There was complaints about them, but also the company who owned Gilbert and Steeden (Grays, I think) dicided to split manufacturers and use one for Rugby Union (Gilbert) and one for Rugby League (Steeden), therefore brining in the Australian-style ball from the NRL.

To be fair, have re-read the article and it appears he's in there as "role model" - if that's re: professionalism and attitude there are few better, he was a terrific pro.

If you're looking at performances in a GB shirt, I'd go to the likes of Scully, Farrell, Offiah, Lydon, Hanley, Clarke, Barrie Mac, Kev Ward, Goodway etc. Guess it depends how far you want to go back. I appreciate not all of these players may be available/interested.

Even the article mentions a good reason for his inclusion is his debut where he dropped a ball that led to a try but didn't let it bother him. Dropped balls and missed tackles wouldn't inspire me too much on the playing side (not that he's in any way alone in that respect, sadly enough).

Of the recent past only Scully and Farrell have the aura to pull of this sort of role in any meaningful way IMO, but there are lots on a par with Radlinski who for me falls into the excellent club player, average international player bracket.

All just my opinion of course.

So you base international performances on ''How many tries somebody scored''?

If he does then Connolly was dreadful too



To be fair, 2 tries between Connolly and Radlinski in their international careers (if he's right about KR, I haven't checked) is woeful for a full back and centre and shows that some of the best players of their generation in England struggle to step up against the Aussies. You can throw the likes of Newlove, KC, Pryce etc in there too.

Depressing really.

Great player that he was I honestly have to admit to feeling disappointed with his international performances most of the time. My only crumb of comfort is that KFC was an even bigger international disappointment!!

Wouldn't argue with that unfortunately.

In no order

Hanly
Offiah
Clarke
Scully P
Crooks
Robinson
Davies
Carney
Harris (only just retired, but he was still better than Radlinski for GB, and he's a good young coach)
Even Farrell would have been a better apointment.

I'd definitely say that this appointment was to be a role model. Maybe his international career wasn't fantastic, but that fact that in the last 10-15 years there have only been two influential players for GB says more about our set up then it does for Radlinski.

Radlinski was a fantastic fullback and was the ultimate professional. Considering England's last performance in Oz a little bit of professionalism and guidance wouldn't go a miss in the side.

Nope, but I thought I'd atleast give one example of his gash-ness at test level.