Northampton Saints wing Edoardo Todaro hopes his impact at the start of the new Prem season will lead to senior international honours for Italy.
Northampton Saints wing Edoardo Todaro hopes his impact at the start of the new Prem season will eventually lead to senior international honours for Italy.
The 19-year-old has scored three tries in four league and cup appearances at the start of his debut season with the club, including one in last weekend's East Midlands derby win over Leicester Tigers.
Todaro came to England as a 14-year-old to study at Ipswich School, where he was coached by fellow Italian Andrea Pozzi, and signed his first professional deal before the start of the current campaign after being spotted by Saints.
He played for the Azzurri at the Under-20 World Cup and told BBC Radio Northampton: "Everybody's ambition is to play in the first [senior] team and hopefully in time that will come. I'm not trying to push it too fast right now, let's see what happens."
Todaro took an unusual route into rugby after being born and spending his early childhood in the football-mad city of Milan - although he did not support either of the city's big clubs, Inter and AC.
"I used to support Juventus because my grandpa's from there [Turin] and he watched every game," he said.
"Rugby is quite niche in Italy. I was playing football at the start but I was really bad and wasn't enjoying it. My dad used to play (rugby) and said 'give it a go'.
"I was pretty average in the first year, but the second year I changed clubs and we won three really good tournaments in mini-rugby - but getting into seniors in Milan, it's not a city to go for rugby."
Todaro made the move to England following contact between Ipswich School and his coach at the time in Italy.
"I just wanted a change in my life, the opportunity came and I decided to go for it. I'm surprised my parents let me (go)," he said.
"I knew Northampton was a good club and in the first year I remember seeing stories about a couple of players from Ipswich that were also in the Saints academy and playing in stadiums for the under-18s and I thought 'that's so cool, I wish that was me'. And eventually it was me.
"If you'd asked me a month ago if I'd be playing three games in the Prem, I'd be like 'no way'. I never expected that. That was not in my mind. Obviously it was a goal to play but to start three out of three is quite good."
Saints are second in the Prem table after two wins and a draw so far and are away to Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday evening.
Todaro - who also scored twice in the league opener against Exeter Chiefs - will hope to again be involved and director of rugby Phil Dowson described his start to the campaign, and that of fly-half Anthony Belleau, who contributed a double against Leicester, as "top class".
He added: "We've seen how good Edo can be and how much potential he has, how much better he's going to get, and how confident he is."
Category: General Sports
