Safe hands and quick feet: Freddie Steward proves he is England’s future

Freddie Steward scored England's opening try in a scrappy victory over Australia at Twickenham on Saturday, and the full-back was assured under the high ball.

Daniel Schofield analyses why the Leicester Tigers player could be a fixture of England's XV for years to come.

High balls

If catching high balls is the single most valuable skill in modern rugby what do we weigh Freddie Steward’s worth to England in? Gold? Printer ink? Antimatter?

For two successive weekends at Twickenham, Steward has defused every bomb that has come his way, projecting the assurance of a seasoned international rather than a 20-year-old playing in just his fourth Test.

His one-man safety net denied Australia any cheap entries into the England half and was a prime reason that the Wallabies spent just 14 seconds inside the English 22.

Before he had even started a Premiership match, Steward told Geordan Murphy, his then director of rugby at Leicester Tigers, that he wanted to become the world’s best player under the high ball. Steward was talking to the right man about his ambition. Murphy was lauded for his bravery under the high ball in a career in which he made 322 appearances for Leicester and played in 72 Tests for Ireland. In Steward, he quickly recognised a kindred spirit, particularly on how hard he was on himself for any drops in training. Obviously Steward’s 6ft 5in frame provides a natural advantage, but more than anything Murphy says you need courage.

“Command of the air is fundamental to the back three play, you see games turned on the drop of a high ball,” Murphy told Telegraph Sport. “He’s aggressive and his technique is good, he attacks the space and just owns the air. It is great for me as a full back who played in a different era when there were not all these safety measures. When the ball went up, you just had to catch it. That was your job. Freddie has a bit of that about him. He just goes and gets it.”

Murphy was in attendance at Twickenham on Saturday and highlighted Steward’s catch where he was upended by James O’Connor. “That’s one where you know you are going to get hurt, but he went up anyway, got the penalty and it didn’t deter him,” Murphy said.

Attack

Steward can be an equally effective weapon in attack, as he demonstrated in scoring a try that Eddie Jones hailed as one of the finest of his tenure - yet that serrated edge in attack has long been a feature of his rugby.

It was Dusty Hare, another former international full back, who first alerted Murphy to Steward’s potential, persuading him to come to an academy finals today to see him in action.

Grudgingly Murphy went along and quickly had his head turned. “He scored this unbelievable try,” Murphy said. “The ball was passed behind him, he turned around, picked it up, spun back around, chipped it over the defensive line and scored under the posts. It was literally that moment where I remember thinking this guy is going to be a star. I was already thinking when can he step up to make that transition into the first team.”

That did not happen straight away as Steward had a late growth spurt that delayed his progress as he grew into his body. When he first saw Steward last season, Jones thought he lacked a yard of pace to become an international full-back, but was disavowed of that notion when he came into the camp for the summer internationals against USA and Canada. The work of Aled Walters, the head of physical performance at Leicester, has aided Steward’s development significantly.

His try was further evidence of his turn of pace. The opening was created by the passing of Owen Farrell and Marcus Smith with Manu Tuilagi providing the looming distraction for Steward, running a perfect line, to burst through a hole in the defensive line. A left-foot step then left Kurtley Beale, a pretty handy full-back himself, clutching thin air.

According to Opta, Steward made the most metres of any English player (51), joint most carries (10), most defenders beaten (5) and joint most offloads (2).

Room for improvement

Steward’s height, which is such an advantage for the high balls, counts against him in two ways. Firstly he has to stoop much lower to tackle than most full-backs. Although his one on one against Telusa Veainu against Tonga last week counted as a missed tackle, Murphy argues he deserves an assist for Lawes’ try-saver having got back to slow him down.

Secondly, the mechanics of his kicking technique have to be spot on, and he did shank one ball out of play against Australia. “The levers he has got means he has to control his ball drop but certainly he is kicking the ball a long way,” Murphy said. “He has put a lot of work into that.”

Yet Murphy believes we are only just scratching the surface of his potential. “I saw a couple of opportunities for overhead grabs on crossfield kicks that I think can become a huge part of his game,” Murphy said. “His ceiling is enormous, but if he wants to be the best in the world, he has got to add to all those areas.”

As for his team-mates, they are simply grateful to have him in their ranks.