Ever-present Elliott Stooke has really proved his worth for Bath Rugby
Elliott Stooke has been a great ambassador for Bath Rugby since joining from Gloucester in 2016.The seemingly bulletproof lock was the only player in the squad who featured in all 22 Premiership matches.An impressive 18 of those were starts, despite playing in the same position as internationals Charlie Ewels and Luke Charteris, and his 1,400 minutes on the field in the league were also a club high.Not bad for a player who was struggling to get a game at Gloucester before arriving at the Rec in the summer of 2016. It was by no means a fluke, either. The 24-year-old has form for it.
“I think I did it in my first, breakthrough season with Gloucester [he did, in 2013-14], then nothing since. I’ve been extremely lucky with injuries and extremely lucky with the coaches - how they've handled me - and how I’ve been treated from the S&C [strength and conditioning] staff. I’m extremely grateful to have received the opportunity to come to this club and put a shift in.
Now some time for a bit of rest, recuperation and fun.A wedding, a couple of holidays and then it will be back to work at Farleigh House next month.”
Elliot Stooke
Stooke believes the storming end to the Premiership campaign - a 43-20 win at Gloucester and 63-19 victory over London Irish - has boosted morale for the summer return.
“We know we’ve under-achieved this season. If we’d have lost against Irish, God forbid, it would have been a dark place. We’ve had a couple of good wins on the bounce and it really does mean we can go into pre-season, smiles on faces knowing we’re in the Champions Cup, which is exactly where we want to be.
No offence, but nobody really wants to go to Russia away [in the Challenge Cup]. The fact we’re playing the best teams – which is what this club deserves with its history and heritage – it’s exactly what we deserve.
Thanks to some of the other sides in the Prem for giving us the results we needed.” Elliot Stooke
Stooke ended his campaign by scoring his second try of the season; stepping inside Josh McNally at the end of the first half at the Rec as the hosts ran riot.
“In all honesty, I don’t think I ran once in that game and that was the one time I did run,” he joked.“I thought I have to do something. Me and Taulupe were holding the edge, I got the ball from Rhys, decided I was going to give it a pump to the left and off I went.” Elliot Stooke
