Was this the 50:22 of the year from Raffaele Storti?

It’s been a hell of a year for the livewire Portuguese back-three star Raffaele Storti. His national tam have qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France and he is scoring tries for fun in the ProD2 for Beziers.

Related: Biggest rugby moments 2022

But when footage re-emerged of this 50:22 kick in a ProD2 match-up between Beziers and Colomiers on 7 October, we’ve now began to wonder if if this could be his highlight of the year?

Hard to stack that against World Cup qualification, granted, but could this then be the 50:22 of the year then? Let’s consider some contenders.

One unlikely rival this year came from this schoolboy’s monster 50:22 kick, after Glyn Jones of Torquay Boys’ Grammar School fired the ball from his own 22 to the opposition’s one.

Or there was this superb Henry Slade 50:22. In a fractured first half at Twickenham, during England-Wales in the Six Nations, centre Henry Slade put through on the sweetest 50:22 kicks you’ll witness.

In the same competition, Tadhg Beirne’s 50:22 stunned Six Nations fans, as the Irish back-five star pulled out a nudge to offset the French too. What an all-round athlete.

There was this bad boy from Ulster’s Mike Lowry in October too, when the Irish province were on tour in South Africa. Watch it stop, drop and roll after it lofts over the defence…

In fact…

Check out this video above from Andrew Forde, that shows a vast range of beautiful, tactical and crazy 50:22 kicks from throughout 2022. From tight-angled wonders from Frans Steyn to special Argentine efforts and Maxime Lucu’s bonkers box-kick against Racing 92, there is loads in here. Enjoy!

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