International second row Hugo Auradou should make his return to the Top 14 in Perpignan. He has not played since last season due to the accusations he faced in Argentina.
Friday morning, Hugo Auradou participated in the collective training of players from the Paloise Section. He was expected to make the club’s trip to Perpignan for the fifth day of Top 14. We saw him training with the chasuble reserved for the starters at the start of the opposition exercises. If this is confirmed, he should form the team with Thomas Jolmès. This would be Hugo Auradou’s first appearance since his return from Argentina on September 3 and his rapid return to collective training.
We remember that he was accused of sexual assault with Oscar Jegou (La Rochelle). The two men are presumed innocent and are awaiting decisions from the Argentine courts. This would therefore be the first appearance of the young international second row, a revelation of last season. Obviously, this return will be highly scrutinized, given the unprecedented experience that the 21-year-old player has had.
An important player in the Pau system
This return is a surprise to the extent that the club had implied that it would wait for the end of the procedure and a possible dismissal of the case to have the player reappear. But obviously, Sébastien Piqueronies chose to hurry things up to get the player back into the swing of things as quickly as possible. Hugo Auradou has 28 Top 14 matches (twelve as a starter) plus eight in the European Cup (including six as a starter).
Beyond his legal setbacks, Hugo Auradou is considered an essential weapon of the Pau Section, he had a remarkable 2023-2024 season, which led to his selection for the Blues and which undoubtedly also explains this return more quicker than expected. In any case, there is an unusual commotion at Section training for a Friday preceding a Top 14 match, important, but not necessarily decisive.
