Not all heroes wear capes and Will Stuart is not the type you would expect to see in shining armour, but the time has come to recognise England’s unsung tighthead prop. Crisis? What crisis? It was not so long ago that the Rugby Football Union was wringing its hands at the dearth of tightheads across the country but quietly, under the radar, Stuart has emerged as England’s most consistent, reliable performer.
During Steve Borthwick’s first Six Nations in charge two years ago, he lamented that England were “not good at anything” and raised particular concern over the scrum, an area in which they had ranked last of all tier one nations over the previous 12 months. Fast-forward to now and, under the tutelage of Tom Harrison, England’s scrum has developed into both a solid platform and a weapon they can employ to impressive effect.
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On Saturday, Stuart was perhaps England’s best player, leading the rearguard action even when he lost a boot for a lengthy defensive set and as part of a scrum that put the squeeze on Scotland. “It has been a big step forward for us,” Stuart says. “Over the past few years we’d get penalties here and there but we’d also give away … you’d maybe finish a game that’s four penalties to five, you’d want to get 3-0, that’s a better stat, being clean in Test rugby.
“You come into England camp, there are only going to be a certain amount of people who play. The scrum is going to be one of the most combative places and it’s really competitive but you have to know that you’re training for everyone to get better, not trying to pop someone out the top or collapse it. Sometimes you’re going to get drilled in the scrum but you’ve got to take your medicine rather than collapse it for the good of the team. It’s been about training clean, I think we got payoff from that in November, being really clean, applying pressure and being more dominant on our own ball.”
Stuart has 48 caps and barring injury will bring up his half-century when England conclude their campaign against Wales. Do not be surprised if his 51st Test appearance comes on the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia – Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach, will have been impressed by what he has seen lately. Stuart made his debut in the 2019 Six Nations, and his first start in the Covid-hit autumn a year later. But for much of his Test career he was behind Kyle Sinckler or Dan Cole, and the previous time England won the Calcutta Cup, at Murrayfield in 2020, he was an unused replacement.
“That was my first Six Nations and the storm,” the 28-year-old prop says. “My mum and girlfriend were not happy. They came up, I didn’t come off the bench and then we get on a plane but they were stuck in Edinburgh because of the storm. They have refused to go back up since.”
Stuart has appeared as a replacement 26 times but started England’s past nine Tests, a permanent fixture in a rock-solid scrum and perhaps the best compliment he could be paid is that Borthwick no longer feels the need to keep the 37-year-old Cole on call. Stuart is now among the first names on the teamsheet, backed up by Joe Heyes, while the 20-year-old Asher Opoku-Fordjour of Sale continues to learn his trade as part of the wider squad. Gloucester’s Afo Fasogbon and Billy Sela have been earmarked for bright futures too, but for now Stuart is England’s cornerstone, performing admirably until that golden generation matures.
Someone in his position would be forgiven for taking offence at the agonising over England’s tighthead issues but, by his own admission, it has taken him a while to settle into the role as first-choice for his country. “I’ve had opportunities over the past few years and I haven’t grasped them,” he says.
“I’ve been playing on and off for the last five years, off the bench for the first few years then had a few chances to start and coming away from the last World Cup I’ve just tried to keep my head down and do my job well. Obviously no one is really going to care if I’m throwing 30-metre skip passes if I’m getting drilled in the scrum so I just do my job well, consistently well, and keep my head below the parapet where you can’t get shot.”
It is worth pointing out that Stuart did come up with a fine looping pass in the buildup to an Ollie Sleightholme try against Japan in the autumn but it is doing his day job well that most pleases him.
It helps that at Bath, Stuart is one of three Test tightheads along with South Africa’s Thomas du Toit - who plays both sides of the scrum - and Wales’s Archie Griffin while Sela is waiting in the wings. “I’d say, because every day I’m scrummaging against Beno [Obano] or Thomas at loosehead and they’re world class, they’re so hard to scrummage against so I’ve had to get better while being there,” says Stuart. “Our tighthead group is unbelievable, we’ve got so many good lads, it’s a great group to be part of.”
