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Elliott Stooke has exited Bristol for a spell in the Top 14
By Liam Heagney
Elliott Stooke has become the latest ex-Wasps player to move to the Top 14, the lock bringing to an end his short-term injury cover deal at Bristol by signing for Montpellier, the reigning French champions, until the end of the current season.
Stooke was still recovering from last May’s fibula fracture versus Sale when Wasps collapsed in mid-October with the loss of 167 player and staff jobs. He returned to playing during the Barbarians’ English club tour in November and was unveiled as a short-term Bristol singing on December 2.
Having played three times for the Bears, including a European Challenge Cup match at Perpignan, Stooke has now left Bristol for a move to France and he is line for a Top 14 debut this Sunday when Racing 92 visit Montpellier.
A statement read: “Montpellier Herault Rugby have formalised the arrival of English lock Elliott Stooke as an additional player for the end of this 2022/2023 season. Having arrived last Thursday in the Herault, the lock was present in training at the start of the week and can apply for the reception of Racing 92 this Sunday evening at the GGL Stadium.
“Coming from Bristol, Elliott Stooke notably went through Wasps. With a jumping and dynamic profile of 198cm and 122kgs, the player will bring all his freshness and knowledge of the lineout to Montpellier and will help to compensate for the injury of Florian Verhaeghe, who is absent for several months.”
Stooke celebrated his arrival in France with a post on his Linkedin account. “After all that has happened this year with injury and what happened with Wasps, I’m excited to get stuck into my French adventure.” It was just five weeks ago when Bristol were acknowledging the arrival of Stooke at Ashton Gate. “Following the injuries to Ed Holmes and Joe Joyce, we needed some cover in the second row and we are pleased to bring in a player of Elliott’s quality and experience,” said Pat Lam at the time.
Stooke’s last appearance for the Bears came in their Gallagher Premiership win at Harlequins on December 27, the 28-year-old tweeting: “Some seven-month journey to get back… injury, redundancy then trying to find a new team. Big thanks to everyone that has helped me on this one, and big thanks to Bristol. Merry Christmas all.”
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Latest Comments
I'm honestly not so sure. I initially thought just reckless mainly because no player should be capable of doing that intentionally.
There's a strong argument that he's working both the eyes. It's his left hand he uses which is furthest from the ball he's contesting. His fingers are also clenched which I don't think is a natural way to try and rip a ball.
Go to comments"I see those teams, SA in particular, as only improving their performances in EPCR."
well, its gone the opposite direction so far!
"I don't like your model that requires them to reach Semi Final level in the Challenge trophy, given the bottleneck that will be URC with 16 teams playing for only 4 places."
my model would have given SA 3 spots in a 16 team CC this year, which is the same number as they have in the 24 team version that is actually taking place. But yes, if they keep getting worse it would get harder for them to get places. It would also get harder for you to argue that they deserve places though!
"I suggest by giving say Englands two semi finalist first seeds of the english teams, then the next best 4 on the league table as much better (it catches improving teams faster)."
interesting argument, but it doesn't always go that way. Gloucester are improving, but they improved in cup competitions before league fixtures started going their way. The same is true of Sharks, and the same was true of la Rochelle. I think maybe this is just an argument for allowing more teams to qualify via the challenge cup!
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