1.30pm, Thursday, May 8th was a time that had been marked in most rugby players’ calendars for months. Reminders had been sent to tune into the TV, perch nervously on the edge of the sofa and watch Andy Farrell name his Lions squad live on air.
In that career defining moment, as every contender held their breath, Will Stuart was pottering around in his back garden, cutting up panels of wood. Pencil behind his ear, measuring tape at the ready, his biggest focus was on how to avoid splinters.
‘I was on the circular saw outside,’ explains the prop, who missed the moment his name was read out. ‘We moved into our new house last September and it’s a semi-renovation. We’ve done one side of the house and we’ve been putting up some panelling in the hallway.
‘It was a conscious decision to not be in front of the TV. I was pretty nervous the day before. When I start any DIY stuff, I get into a full flow-state and let the time slip by. I didn’t have any of the pre-amble, trying to check my name on the alphabet. I heard my missus shouting from inside when it was announced. She said she wasn’t watching – I think she was pretending to do something – but that’s how I found out.
‘I got a message from Joel Stocker immediately asking if we could go to a Zoom broadcast link but I had a mask on, covered in dust. Andy Farrell would’ve thought I was a t*** straight away so I politely declined that request! It was a nice way to find out, in the end.’
Stuart had reason to celebrate. Twelve months ago, he was barely in the conversation to be part of Farrell’s Lions squad. Now as England’s most improved player this season, the tight-head is a contender to start in the Tests against the Wallabies.
Will Stuart has been named in Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions for their tour of Australia
But the Bath prop missed the momentus announcement as he attempted to distract himself with DIY in the garden
‘I treated myself to a little tiramisu,’ he adds, with a mischievous smile.
Stuart will be battling with Tadhg Furlong and Zander Fagerson for the No 3 jersey. The Lions have three giant anchormen, but Stuart is the man in form. For years, he operated in the shadow of Joe Marler and Dan Cole. But the safety blanket of England’s veterans has gone and the 28-year-old has had to step up.
He has dovetailed with South African enforcer Thomas du Toit at Bath, managed closely by Johann van Graan, crediting the synergy between club and country for his improvements. ‘At the World Cup, I had the opportunity to start a few games for England but I didn’t play that well. I missed that opportunity. I found myself in that third-choice spot, playing a couple of group games and the third-fourth play-off. I found that whole period pretty difficult and the following Six Nations. I just wasn’t enjoying my rugby that much.
‘Going into that World Cup, pre-Johann, I’d had a run of games where I was playing a lot of 70 or 80 minutes in a row for Bath. There was competition to want to start every game. My body broke down and I basically had a year and a half where I’d play for a little bit and then get different injuries. With the squad we’ve got here now, rotation wise, I know I’m not going to be playing 70-minute games non-stop. Now, we have conversations where we know we’re going to start two, bench two. It feels collaborative.
‘That’s hopefully put years on my career. In terms of freshness, going into big games, it really helps. I had a conversation with the Team England guys about the match limit. I’m quite close to the match limit but I have no worries about that. In a different environment, I might be worried about getting flogged. Here, they’re very honest and they plan everything out, so you know when you’re going to get time to step back.
‘Now, things are very aligned with club and the national side. When I was first with England, I was quite light and I was given very strict parameters coming into camp that I would be sent turning [home] if I was above that. Under Eddie Jones, my lightest was probably 124kg. Bath always wanted me heavier, pre-Johann, so I’d come back to club and get to 134. I was bouncing up and down between this 10kg swing. They’re very aligned now, so I’m not eating dust and sitting in a sauna for two weeks before I go into camp. And then I’m not stuffing my face as soon as I get back… that’s been pretty good.’
England’s scrum has seen vast improvements over the past 12 months. They have stopped leaking penalties, and coach Tom Harrison deserves a lot of the credit. The moment the Lions squad was confirmed, Harrison created a WhatsApp group to congratulate Stuart, Ellis Genge and Luke Cowan-Dickie. An exclusive front-row union for England’s Lions.
Harrison has been working with Steve Trapmore, who won a rowing gold medal in the eight-man cox at the Sydney Olympics, to improve the collective set-up of England’s scrum. The two coaches have compared notes on timing, although the thought of getting out on the water on a boat brings back haunting memories of Stuart’s teenage years.
Stuart earned his place in the side following a series of impressive performances for England
The 28-year-old has been forced to step up following the retirement of Joe Marler(pictured)
Steve Blackmore(fifth from left) – a gold medallist at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney – has been tasked with collective set-up of England’s scrum
Stuart admitted the intense sessions bring back painful memories of rowing as a teenager
‘I rowed myself when I was 14, 15, 16 and it is the hardest sport in the world,’ he explains. ‘Devastatingly tough. Two of the lads I rowed with were in the Olympics, Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith. They were in the eight in Tokyo. The discipline in that sport, even at 15, waking up at 5am and doing 2km ergs [indoor rowing machines]. I still have recurring nightmares about walking down to the erg shed and having to do a 2km or a 5km on a Tuesday morning. I still sometimes wake up like, “F***!” I’ve got PTSD from three years of doing it. When I do fitness stuff here, it’s never as bad as stuff I experienced when I was 16. Maybe I’m just better at running than rowing. I would throw up after every single time trial on an erg. Maybe it was my first taste of fitness, too; so it has tainted it for me…’
By no coincidence, ‘Spew’ has become one of Stuart’s many nicknames among his contemporaries. A quick glance at his Instagram shows him to be one of the game’s quirkier characters, keeping up the fine trend of the weird and the wonderful personalities in the front-row. It is a platform for self-deprecation, often featuring Stuart and his team-mates pulling compromising faces.
‘My agent asked if I wanted to make the most out of newfound performances by trying to commercialise it,’ he reveals. ‘No, not at all. That would be fake from me. “Can you at least put my email in your bio?” he asked. No. I don’t want any commercial opportunities, it’s fine.’
Deadpan humour is one of Stuart’s strengths. The conversation has a tendency to go off on unpredictable tangents. Reflecting on his Lions memories, his mind wanders back to the 2013 tour of Australia, when he was still a schoolboy. ‘Michael Hooper had just come on the scene,’ he recalls. ‘I was a big Hooper fan so I remember watching that at school.
‘We didn’t watch too much rugby at school. Big Six Nations games… we put those on. I watched more Premiership games. I was a big London Irish fan. I was in their academy when I was 13 so I always used to watch them. I’d love to see them back. I was laughing the other day because Neal Hatley [England’s former scrum coach] was here at Bath. While I was in the Irish academy, he was the manager. Hats hadn’t realised until I told him that he actually sacked me and Joe Marchant [the England centre] off on the same day when we were 13 or 14.
‘Marchant and I always talk about that. We used to share lifts a lot and that one was a difficult lift home! Hats was a scrum-half at the time and I was basically a fat back-rower – they didn’t know what I was. I hadn’t hit puberty and had no athletic ability – I was just heavy. He still disputes it but I remember it well. I’m like, “You don’t even remember cutting me – that’s even worse!” Neal texted me after the Lions announcement.’
The well-wishing messages have come thick and fast. It promises to be a summer to remember for England’s quirky character in the front-row. The house renovations will have to wait.
