Multiple ingredients go into baking a world-class international prop. Strength is clearly a vital prerequisite, but so is a hunger for improvement and an ability to absorb serious levels of pain. There will be plenty of tightheads up and down the country not remotely surprised to learn that England’s Will Stuart regularly sleeps on his kitchen floor in Bath after a game as part of his recovery regime.
Stuart is 27 years old but listening to him detailing his Saturday night after the recent home Champions Cup win over Ulster makes him sound much older. “A few of the lads went for a few beers but I was back-spasming on my kitchen floor with a heat pack on my back and a drip line of tea from my girlfriend.
“She has moved in recently and has chosen a new mattress, which is a bit too soft for me. So I have spent a few nights on the floor, tucked up in a duvet and binge-watching Netflix. Post-games are a write-off.”
Ah, the glamour of top-level sport. The good news is that the 20-stone Stuart had something to show for it, having given South Africa’s formidable World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff, now at Ulster, a tough time in the scrums. The irony was not lost on the Englishman, who suffered a dislocated elbow against the same opponents at Twickenham 13 months ago. “It was a big one for me to get a few dominant scrums over on him, knowing he pretty much did the same to me the November before.”
From an English perspective it was certainly an encouraging snapshot as they seek to build a pack capable of making an impact at the 2027 World Cup. Age is just a number and all that but by then Kyle Sinckler will be 34 and Dan Cole 40. No one needs to tell Stuart he has a prime opportunity to make the jersey his own, starting with this season’s Six Nations.
There is also a renewed determination to atone for a “frustrating” personal World Cup whichthat did not pan out as he had hoped. “The World Cup was a missed opportunity for me. I had a couple of warm-up games where I played OK and one where I didn’t think I played my best. That’s your chance to really claim your shirt and I didn’t do that. I played in some of the group games and then missed out for the quarter-final and semi-final.”
It cannot have been easy for him to sit idly in the stand as the Springbok “Bomb Squad” turned the screw on England’s set piece in the World Cup semi-final. As a competitive athlete he would have relished the challenge – “You always back yourself, you always want to be playing, you always think you can make a difference” – but he could also see why Steve Borthwick preferred to back his senior pros. “I understood Steve’s reasonings for the decision. We had a lot of long chats and we’ve had a lot of long chats since. There’s stuff he wants me to work on in my game and it’s stuff I agree with.”
He does not entirely spell it out but his long and winding rugby road, from his earliest days at Andover and Salisbury to England Under-20s, Wasps, Blackheath, Moseley, Nottingham and now Bath, taught Stuart many years ago that even the best ball-carrying props are expendable if the scrum is in retreat. The smallest technical details, if not done properly, can have massive implications. “It’s very boring, pretty technical stuff like the pre-bind, not being messy, not giving away stupid free-kicks or penalties, which are under my control. If I get my process right, I back myself to scrum against anyone.”
For all Stuart’s eye-catching family background – his paternal grandfather played rugby in Uganda in the same team as Idi Amin, while his maternal great-grandfather worked as an actor in Hollywood in the black and white movie era – it is the future that now matters most to him. While he is in contract negotiations with Bath he sounds in no hurry whatsoever to quit England, for whom he has won 33 caps, and surrender his Test ambitions. “It’s a big attraction. If my career ended today I’d be able to say I achieved a little bit … I’ve had a few caps for England and a few caps for Bath. But in terms of what I want to achieve, that’s only part of it.
“My overriding feeling coming out of the World Cup was one of frustration. I’ve had three or four years with Bath and England where we’ve been sub-par. I want to be part of a team that is winning and pushing for titles. To do that with Bath would be really special. And if you do that, it puts you on the front foot to really try and claim an England shirt.”
Hence his quiet satisfaction at Bath’s steady improvement before Saturday’s date with Harlequins and, potentially, his England teammate Joe Marler. The national management will surely be monitoring the pair’s likely head-to-head battle and Stuart, along with his new South African colleague Thomas du Toit, does not want Kitshoff’s discomfort this month to be a one-off. “You always back yourself as a player, even when you are scrummaging against the Springboks.
“If you are going in there thinking negatively – that if I can just get through this game and lock out it’ll be fine – then you’re in the wrong profession. You have to meet fire with fire.”
Another Saturday night on the kitchen floor will be worth it if the big man can help propel Bath to the top of the Premiership tree this Christmas.
