Teams now attempting to decapitate Paolo Odogwu as only way of stopping him
Paolo Odogwu is settling into life at Stade Francais quite nicely after joining them at the end of last year, and clearly has a reputation already of being a player that is hard to stop in the Top 14.
Since making to the move to the French capital at the end of October after Wasps went into administration, Odogwu and Stade Francais have enjoyed a four match winning run which has taken them to second place in the Top 14. During this run, they have also earned an away 48-10 win over rivals Racing 92, in which Odogwu scored.
It looked as though he was going to be on the scoresheet again on Saturday against Castres at the Stade Jean-Bouin after breaking through the visitors’ defence just a few minutes into the match. The 25-year-old was on course for a try and given his weight and power, he was going to be hard to stop. In fact, opposing winger Filipo Nakosi seemed to only have one choice to stop him, and it definitely was not legal.
Nakosi pulled out an absolutely outrageous scrag tackle, grabbing Odogwu by the neck and slinging him into touch. Odogwu stood up in disbelief at what he had just experienced. The crazy thing is, he actually came close to scoring the try still. Inevitably, Nakosi was yellow carded and a penalty try was awarded.
Take a look at the tackle:
Built different @notoriousPCO 😤 pic.twitter.com/FiZ94fFS3i
— tom16 (@olbceltics) January 8, 2023
Despite being involved in England’s Six Nations camp in 2021, Odogwu is still uncapped. He remains eligible to play for Italy, but may have been offered a new opportunity with a Steve Borthwick replacing Eddie Jones as head coach. While playing outside of the Gallagher Premiership usually bars a player from representing England, the RFU have already said that any former Wasps or Worcester Warriors playing abroad will be considered.
