Biyi Alo (born 16 March 1994) is an English professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who plays for

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name to ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

. Alo has also released two hip-hop songs, under the name 'Biyi'.

Club career

Alo came through the academy ranks of

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

and during this period he spent time on loan at

Bedford Blues Bedford Blues are a rugby union club in the town of Bedford, England, currently playing in The RFU Championship. Bedford is one of the few towns in England where the rugby club is better supported than the football team. The Blues are a semi-pro ...

. He was a member of the Sarries side that defeated Exeter Chiefs to win the 2015 Anglo-Welsh Cup. The following year saw him leave for Worcester Warriors. After making thirty first-team appearances for Worcester a move to French club Soyaux Angouleme was agreed in 2018 however the transfer ultimately didn’t materialise and due to health reasons he took a break from rugby. Alo returned to professional rugby at

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

who he joined in October 2018. After a short spell at the club he was scouted by

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

and initially joined as injury cover, making his club debut against

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

on 2 March 2019 with the deal being made permanent three days later. Alo was a second-half replacement for

Jeffery Toomaga-Allen Jeffery Latu Toomaga-Allen (born 19 November 1990) is a rugby union footballer who plays as a tighthead prop for Samoa, and for Ulster in the United Rugby Championship. He previously played for Wellington Lions in the ITM Cup and the Hurricanes ...

in the 2020 Premiership Final as Wasps finished runners up to Exeter. Wasps entered administration on 17 October 2022 and Alo was made redundant along with all other players and coaching staff. After made redundant from Wasps, Alo signed for top French club

for the rest of the 2022-23 season.

International career

Alo was a member of the England under-20 team that won the

2014 IRB Junior World Championship The 2014 IRB Junior World Championship was the seventh annual international rugby union competition for Under 20 national teams. The event was organised in Auckland, New Zealand by rugby's governing body, World Rugby, then known as the Internation ...

and was on the bench for the final against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...

. In June 2022 he was called up by Eddie Jones to join a training camp with the senior

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

squad.

References

External links

European Professional Club Rugby ProfileWasps Profile
1994 births Living people English rugby union players Coventry R.F.C. players Saracens F.C. players Wasps RFC players Worcester Warriors players Rugby union props Black British sportspeople English people of Nigerian descent {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub