Stark joined French club Biarritz in 2019. The side plays in the ProD2 competition, the tier below the Top 14.
Biarritz is a club with a long tradition and has produced past French internationals, including Serge Blanco, Serge Betson, Jean Condom, Thierry Dusatoir and Dimitri Yachvili.
The club has won French titles but was relegated to the second tier a couple of years ago. It has been fighting to return to the top level and yesterday won a nail-biter in the playoffs.
It edged Vannes 34-33 and Stark was the man of the hour.
The former Blue Mountain College pupil came off the bench and scored the winning try under the posts in injury time.
The Biarritz team includes former All Black three-quarter Francis Saili and former Wallabies winger Henry Speight.
Loose forward Adam Knight, who played 27 games for Otago, is also at the Biarritz club but was not in the playing squad against Vannes.
Stark had an injury-marred career for Otago. He made the New Zealand schools side in 2013, playing in the same team as Damian McKenzie and Akira Ioane. However, he played for Otago just three times, most recently in 2016.
Biarritz now has a real chance to move into the Top 14. It will take on Perpignan, another sleeping giant, in the final next week and the winner receives automatic promotion to the Top 14.
The loser will still be in with a chance at promotion, as it will be in a playoff with the 13th-placed team in the Top 14.
The Biarritz club was the subject of plenty of interest last week when it announced it had signed a deal with Grindr — the world's largest gay, bi, trans and queer dating app.
The club has sold its primary jersey sponsorship to Grindr which will display its name front and centre, accompanied by the placement of its logo on the back of the playing shorts.
While the deal is reportedly expected to net the club €4million ($NZ6.72million) over four years, it is also part of a wider campaign by the club to counter homophobia within the sport.
In a statement shared online, the club said it had pledged to participate in the fight against homophobia and had committed to Grindr to continue its action for inclusion and acceptance.
