England Under 20s

Elliott Stooke

Key Facts

Squad	Gloucester Rugby
Position	Lock
Age	19
Height	2m (6'7")
Weight	117kg (18st 5lb)
Caps	U20: 7

Starting every RBS U20 6 Nations Championship match this year enhanced Elliott Stooke’s performances off the bench against Scotland and Wales at the same level in 2012. He was educated at Bredon Hill Middle School and Prince Henry’s HS, Evesham, is in his first year of sports coaching studies at the University of the West of England (UWE) campus at Hartpury College and is also with the Gloucester Rugby Academy and on loan to Hartpury.

His representative honours include England Clubs and Schools U18, England U19 and South West U16 and U18. Worcester-born Elliott led Hartpury to the second of two successive U18 AASE league titles, having taken up the game at Evesham RFC and he has also played for Bredon Buzzards and Stow-on-the Wold.

Elliott’s debut for Gloucester was off the bench at Mont-de-Marsan in the Amlin Challenge Cup last October and his initial start followed against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium the following month. His first mentor was Giles Canning at Stow-on-the-Wold followed by Barry Maddocks at Hartpury U18 level, Alan Martinovic, Mark Cornwell and John Barnes at the same high-performing establishment and Andrew Stanley, Nigel Davies and Carl Hogg at Kingsholm.

His father Geoff played for Evesham RFC and Elliott’s own best moments was “playing for Hartpury U18 against Millfield in my first year. There was lots of talk about the best college playing the best school. It rained throughout the match and we won – and did it again in our second year. Good times!

“At junior club level I seemed to play everywhere – centre, flanker, Number 8 and lock but as soon as I turned 16 it was mainly in the second row. Martin Johnson is the player I most admire and Kingsholm is my favourite ground.”

Elliott’s aims inside and beyond the game are: “to set up my own business and become a sports coach. In rugby it is to achieve things as well as I can – knowing I’ve tried my best.”