Already, a particularity. Because the guy has a relatively unique one to be highlighted, which he shares with the Australian Joseph Suaili’i, also recently transferred code: Rodrigo Isgro has more international selections (6) than club matches among professionals (2).
An anomaly impossible to imagine in France today, even if Virimi Vakatawa was our closest example in 2016, under the Guy Novès era, at a time when French rugby was not what it is now.
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The fact remains that if Isgro will once again be in front of a boy like Mateo Carreras this Friday evening against the Blues, it is certainly because the Bayonnais was only able to join the Argentine group this week, but also because he is not a painter .
A true athlete
A true specialist in the 7 (71 tries in 152 matches in total), which he started as soon as he left the Argentinian youth teams, the 25-year-old Puma was even elected best player in the world in 2023. Serial scorer and proven puncher, among the players the most physical in the discipline (1m85 and 102kg), the winger with the thighs of a crossfitter is a dangerous athlete with the ball in his hands.
He also proved it during his first 2 (and only) matches played in the Premiership with Harlequins since his return from the Olympics, by scoring 3 tries, making 7 crossings and covering 177 meters with the swelling. Stuffed with grinta until the calabash overflowed, Rodrigo Isgro has also shown real skills during aerial duels in recent weeks, where his commitment and massive physique regularly help him to gain the upper hand over his opponent.
In the duel with the French dragster Louis Bielle-Biarrey, which makes him almost 20 kilos, there is no doubt that Isgro and its partners could target this aspect of the game to destabilize France, “a flawless team“, according to Marcos Kremer. Even if, conversely, the fiery canes of Bordeaux could undermine the thick Isgro, not the fastest of this Argentine selection and, whether we like it or not, still in lack of reference points in this discipline that he is rediscovering.
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It’s up to the Blues to make him experience the same feeling as during his last visit to the Stade de France, last July, when the 7 of France took out the Argentinian favorite in the quarter-final of the Olympic Games. A sensational match, tense until the last second and finally sealed by a trickster try from Antoine Dupont (who could well succeed him as the best player in the world at 7 in 2024), with an iconic dive into the -Dionysian goal. Boss, can you give me the same one, please?
