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.
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.
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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,” Stuart says. “Our tighthead group is unbelievable, we’ve got so many good lads, it’s a great group to be part of.”
