When reflecting on his earliest rugby heroes, France full-back Louis Bielle-Biarrey provides a quite surprising answer.

“Jonny Wilkinson,” he said, ahead of Les Bleuets Under-20 Six Nations Summer Series tie against England. “When I was younger, I played fly-half. I loved watching his games, his kicking was very impressive. His drop-goals and conversions were very precise, so that’s why I really loved him, and he never really made any errors.”

There will be no time to admire the Red Roses on Wednesday however, when Bielle-Biarrey’s team face their historic rivals in Le Crunch.

Ahead of that fixture, Bielle-Biarrey reflects on what has been a remarkable breakthrough season, the highlight of which came in January, when he scored a hat-trick for Bordeaux-Begles against Scarlets on his European debut.

“It’s been a very good year,” he gleamed.

“The hat-trick was incredible. My parents, my grandparents, and my brother were there.

“It was my first professional game at Bordeaux and my first European appearance, so it was really incredible. I was very proud and I was very happy in that moment.

“I had scored only one hat-trick before that, with the Bordeaux academy, just two months before. I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a dream.”

The latest entry to the Bielle-Biarrey showreel came on Friday evening in France's Summer Series opener, as a deft run and pass set up Emilien Gailleton to sprint clear and score Les Bleuets' second try in a 42-21 win over Six Nations Under-20 Grand Slam champions Ireland.

It was a cunning piece of play from the 19-year-old, who revealed that he was just glad to have support from his captain in a compromising situation.

“I wanted to play my duel,” he explained. “But I see two men go towards me and so I pass the ball to Emilien, but I didn’t see that it was on.

“I was like ‘please please please’ give me Emilien here and he was there, so I was very happy and it was a great try after.”

It was only three years ago that Bielle-Biarrey made the switch from playmaker to finisher, after he traded local club Seyssins for second-tier Grenoble.

The youngster revealed that the change in position was not his own choice, but that he has no regrets with how things have panned out.

He recalled: “We had two fly-halves in the team and the coach told me to change positions because he thought it was better for me - he was right!

“At fly-half, you have a lot of the ball but not a lot of good ball, now I have a good amount of time to play with more space. I love the two but now I prefer my position.”

Despite having only just made his Under 20s debut this month, Bielle-Biarrey harbours aspirations of one day representing his country at senior level and says it would be an honour to share the field with last year’s World Player of the Year, Antoine Dupont.

The electric scrum-half is sure to dazzle in next year’s World Cup, but Bielle-Biarrey remains realistic about his own chances of making Fabien Galthié’s squad.

“It would be a dream but for me I need to have a big season with Bordeaux,” he said. “After that we will see, but there are a lot of big players. It will be very, very hard, so I’m not sure.

“It will be very exciting for the French people. We have a competitive team.

“It’s a big objective but we want to win the competition.”

The Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series takes place from 24 June – 12 July. Fans can watch every match live. For more information visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHm6BFw-9JRA1CMekNLwMg