Will Stuart interview: I regret not making the England shirt my own

Redemption can occur in some unlikely places. For Bath tighthead prop Will Stuart, it came a couple of weeks ago on his kitchen floor while his back was spasming and his partner was drip-feeding him tea.

Earlier that day, Stuart had scrummaged against Steven Kitshoff, a man who looms large in his consciousness, in Bath’s opening Champions Cup victory over Ulster. A little over 12 months ago, Stuart had dislocated his elbow opposite a scrum in England’s defeat to South Africa. Then in October Stuart had to watch from the stands as an non-playing member of the England squad that lost to Kitshoff’s Springboks in the World Cup semi-final where the scrum proved the decisive factor.

So for all the scrum dominance that Bath have enjoyed this season, none felt sweeter than coming up against Kitshoff, his past tormentor, at the Rec, although he toasted that success in slightly different fashion to many of his team-mates. “A few of the lads went for a few beers but I was actually back-spasming on my kitchen floor, with a heat pack on my back with a drip-line of tea from my missus, so it wasn’t that exciting,” Stuart said. “I didn’t get a chance to scrummage against South Africa in the semi-final and the last time I’d scrummaged against Kitshoff was the November before and I dislocated my elbow in that game in the scrum. I was scrummaging directly against him but I don’t want to blame him or point fingers. It was obviously a big one for me to get a few dominant scrums over on him knowing that he pretty much did the same to me the November before.”

The back spasms are an occupational hazard for a tighthead prop, not helped by his girlfriend’s choice of mattress. “It’s a bit too soft for me so I have spent a few nights on the floor tucked up in a duvet,” Stuart said. “To be honest body-wise I am actually okay. Post-games are a write-off, I can’t sleep post-games so I am usually tucked up with a drip-feed of tea and binge watching Netflix, that’s pretty much it on a Saturday night.”

As painful as a back spasm and dislocated elbow might sound, Stuart seems in far more discomfort reflecting on his experience at the World Cup. He started three of England’s four warm-up games but fell behind Dan Cole and Kyle Sinckler in the pecking order at the tournament. Rather than blame the coaches or circumstances, Stuart takes full responsibility for not seizing the shirt while it was in his possession.

“For me, the World Cup just gone I would say was a missed opportunity for me,” Stuart said. “I played in the warm-up games, played some of the group games and then missed out for the quarter-final and semi-final. I had a chance to make the shirt my own and so it was a missed opportunity.

“I started the first three warm-up games and I had a couple of games where I played okay and one where I didn’t think I played my best. In rugby if you stake your claim you are undroppable, that’s your chance to really claim your shirt and I didn’t do that in the three games so I ended up playing a few games off the bench and playing here and there so that’s what I mean when I say I was frustrated at an opportunity missed.

“I understood Steve [Borthwick]’s reasonings for the decision. We had a lot of long chats and we’ve had a lot of long chats since and there’s stuff that he wants me to work on in my game and it’s stuff that I agree with him on, so it wasn’t like I was sat in the stands kicking the seats going ‘I should have been on there’ at all. It went back to me feeling like I had missed that opportunity and then the frustration for the lads at not getting into the final.”

At 27, Stuart is just coming into his prime and there are few other English tightheads in that type of age-range. Certainly he has rebounded strongly with Bath where he has formed a ferocious one-two punch with Thomas du Toit which has helped to propel the west country club towards the top of the Premiership. Stuart is one of several England players but all indications are that he will remain at the Rec in spite of interest from French clubs.

“We are going through the contractual stuff at the moment,” Stuart said. “But, for me, it would mean the world, pushing on to try and get some silverware especially having finished bottom of the league after a loss against Worcester two years ago. That would make it all the more sweet.

“My overriding feeling coming out of the World Cup was one of frustration and I just wanted to kick on and get involved. I was excited about where we could be as a club and I just wanted to get stuck in as quickly as possible. The way Johann [van Graan] has been running it is different to how it has been at the club before; he is very good at rotation. A few years ago I was in the trenches playing 80 minutes, week in week out, which was taking a toll. Then I had a couple of years after that where I struggled with injury. Now, with rotation, everyone gets better and the whole level of the squad goes up.”