Kockott comes out of retirement to join Stade Francais

Stade Francais Paris is pleased to welcome Rory Kockott, a French international with 11 caps for the French national team, to its professional team.

The 37-year-old South African-born player retired from professional rugby in 2022 and spent this season filling in as a defence coach for Castres.

But with Stade Francais lacking depth at scrum-half due to the call-ups to the French side for the Rugby World Cup, the club broke out the chequebook.

"First of all, we are very happy to welcome Rory's reinforcement as scrum-half," said Stade Francais defence coach Paul Gustard in a statement.

"Initially, one of our recruits at the post, Brad Weber, will join us only after the end of the World Cup because of his contract which binds him to the New Zealand Federation. Also and unfortunately, in this pre-season, we recorded the temporary injury of one of our other recruits, Hugo Zabalza.

"In this position, we identified a need to strengthen ourselves because only Jules Gimbert and Thibault Motassi (18 years old) are available today and in case of problems we needed cover for our first three games. Rory was available, competitive and up for the challenge."

Rory Kockott spent 12 seasons at Castres Olympique where he was twice crowned French Champion. The scrum-half will join the professional squad next Monday.

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