Avogadro, 19, the season’s youngest try scorer

Twelve tries in sixteen matches in a year, from Grenoble’s academy side to the U20 World Championship final. On Sunday, Hugo Avogadro added the Top 14 to the list.

The youngest try scorer of the season

Hugo Avogadro scored in the 10th minute of his first Top 14 match, against Stade Français on Sunday. Born on 6 February 2007, he was 19 years and 7 months old. None of the 122 players who have scored a try since the start of the season was younger.

The only other under-20 on that list is Bayonne’s Baptiste Tilloles, who scored in round two at Pau aged 19 years and 10 months. After them, the youngest scorer is already 21.

55 minutes, a try, a line break

Starting on the left wing in the number 11 of Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who was rested, Avogadro played 55 minutes before making way for Arthur Retière, who scored himself a quarter of an hour later.

The league’s statistics credit him, besides his try, with a line break, an offload and two completed tackles. Bordeaux made six line breaks in the match, and only Damian Penaud made more than him, with two. Bordeaux-Bègles won 40-10 with a bonus point, six tries to two.

It was an honour, I had to play a good game all the same.

Hugo Avogadro | Sud Ouest

Seven tries in six academy matches

Last season he started out in Grenoble’s Espoirs side: six matches, six starts, seven tries, four of them in a single 85-10 win over Valence Romans in October.

He then stepped up to Pro D2 for four matches, three of them as a starter. His two tries at that level both came in tight Grenoble wins, 22-21 against Mont-de-Marsan off the bench, then 38-36 at Aurillac.

U20 World Championship finalist

This summer he played at the U20 World Championship in Georgia with France: five matches, including two starts, and a brace against Spain. He came off the bench in the semi-final, won 26-22 against New Zealand, then in the final, lost 16-5 to South Africa in Tbilisi.

Across all competitions, that makes twelve tries in sixteen matches in a year. He joined Bordeaux-Bègles for this season.

A place up for grabs

His debut comes at a delicate moment for Bordeaux. Matthieu Jalibert went off with a thigh injury in the 14th minute of the same match, and scans are due on Tuesday. Yannick Bru has already considered moving Louis Bielle-Biarrey to fly-half. Should that happen, a wing spot would open up.