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Portugal fan favourite Storti scores 80m try on Top 14 debut
By Francisco Isaac
Stade Français season might’ve not started as intended, but at least there was a ray of sunlight shining through after their last defeat against Castres: Raffaele Storti. In his Top 14 debut, the wing scored a spectacular interception try, bouncing off Baptiste Cope with a perfectly timed hand-off before sliding across the whitewash.
Unfortunately for Stade Français, the try didn’t change the course of the match, as the Stadistes suffered their 5th loss of the season, remaining second to last in the Top 14.
The Portuguese wing had his debut delayed due to an injury, which had already forced him to turn down the opportunity to play against the Springboks last July.
Storti made an impact in the U20 World Rugby Trophy back in 2019, moving to the Uruguayan Franchise, Peñarol, in 2020. As the season was cut short due to COVID, the young wing moved back home to reenlist in Técnico and was approached by Stade Français in the Summer of 2021, joining the French club as an academy-player.
After failing to secure any game time in his first season in France, Storti was loaned to AS Béziers-Hérault where he remained for two seasons, scoring 31 tries in 31 outings. With the number of suitors racking up, Stade Français re-signed the outside until 2027, offering him another shot in the Top 14.
Storti's try...
The best way to introduce yourself in the Top 14#top14 pic.twitter.com/Qz7yeDap2q
— Francisco Isaac (@francisaac87) October 19, 2024
In his first match in the competition, Raffaele Storti not only dotted down a try, but was the player with the most metres gained, clean breaks and carries of the match, making his presence felt. The wing shared his feelings to RugbyPass about his debut for Stade Français: “Mixed emotions, as we were losing an important game and with barely any time left to play. Of course, I was happy with my first try, as it was a dream of mine to play and score a try in the Top 14. It means a lot to me to have done it in my first outing for the club. We have been working hard to help the club. It is a long season, and we are still on time to be back in the race for the playoffs.”
With Paul Gustard now at the helm of the Parisian side, Storti’s try-scoring prowess can play a crucial role in turning the tide and helping the club get back on track.
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That's really stupidly pedantic. Let's say the gods had smiled on us, and we were playing Ireland in Belfast on this trip. Then you'd be happy to accept it as a tour of the UK. But they're not going to Australia, or Peru, or the Philippines, they're going to the UK. If they had a match in Paris it would be fair to call it the "end-of-year European tour". I think your issue has less to do with the definition of the United Kingdom, and is more about what is meant by the word "tour". By your definition of the word, a road trip starting in Marseilles, tootling through the Massif Central and cruising down to pop in at La Rochelle, then heading north to Cherbourg, moving along the coast to imagine what it was like on the beach at Dunkirk, cutting east to Strasbourg and ending in Lyon cannot be called a "tour of France" because there's no visit to St. Tropez, or the Louvre, or Martinique in the Caribbean.
Go to commentsJust thought for a moment you might have gathered some commonsense from a southerner or a NZer and shut up. But no, idiots aren't smart enough to realise they are idiots.
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