Rejection can happen in some unexpected places. For Bath’s taut prop Will Stuart, it came a few weeks ago as he lay on his kitchen floor having a back spasm and his partner pouring him tea.
Earlier that day, Stuart had tackled Steven Kitshoff, who loomed large in his consciousness in Bath’s opening Champions Cup victory over Ulster. Just over 12 months ago Stuart dislocated his elbow in England’s defeat to South Africa. Then in October Stuart, as a non-playing member of the England squad, was forced to watch from the stands as they lost to Kitshoff’s Springboks in the World Cup semi-final, with scrummaging being the deciding factor.
For all the attacking dominance Bath have had this season, no one felt sweeter than facing their past tormentor Kitshoff at the Rec, even if he celebrated that success in a slightly different way to most of his team-mates. “A few of the lads went for a few beers but I was actually having a back spasm on my kitchen floor with a heat pack on my back and tea dripping from my missus so it wasn’t that exciting.” said Stuart. “I didn’t get a chance to attack against South Africa in the semi-final and the last time I attacked against Kitshoff was in November and I dislocated my elbow attacking in that game. I was attacking him directly, but I don’t want to blame him or point fingers. It was obviously a big deal for me to get a few dominant attacks against him, knowing that he had done pretty much the same thing to me the previous November.
Back spasms are an occupational hazard for narrow support, which isn’t helped by your girlfriend’s bedding choice. “It’s a little too soft for me, so I spent a few nights on the floor in the duvet,” Stuart said. “I’m fine physically to be honest. Post-match is put aside, I can’t sleep post-match, so I usually stay busy with a drizzle of tea and binge-watch Netflix, that’s pretty much it on Saturday nights.”
As painful as the back spasm and dislocated elbow sound, Stuart appears to be far more disturbed by his experience at the World Cup. He started three of England’s four warm-up matches but fell behind Dan Cole and Kyle Sinckler in the rankings in the tournament. Rather than blaming the coaches or the circumstances, Stuart takes full responsibility for not getting his hands on the jersey while it was in his possession.
“I would say for me it was a missed opportunity with the World Cup just finishing,” Stuart said. “I played in the warm-up matches, played some of the group matches and then missed the quarter-finals and semi-finals. I had a chance to make the shirt my own and it was a missed opportunity.
“I started the first three warm-up matches and there were a few matches where I played well and one where I didn’t think I was at my best. In rugby if you stake your claim you don’t get dropped, that’s your chance to get your jersey really and I didn’t do that in three games so I played a few games on the bench and played here and there, that’s what I did when I said I was disappointed about a missed opportunity.
“I understand Steve [Borthwick]Reasons for the decision. We had a lot of long conversations and we’ve had a lot of long conversations since then and there’s things he wanted me to work on in my game and I agreed with him, so it wasn’t like they were kicking the seats in the stands and saying, ‘I should have been there.’ “It felt like I had missed the opportunity and then I felt the disappointment of the lads for not making it to the final.”
Stuart is 27, just entering his prime, and there are very few English tight ends in that age range. He certainly made a strong recovery at Bath, scoring a fierce one-two punch against Thomas du Toit to help take the western golf club to the top of the Premiership. Stuart is one of many players available for England but all indications are that he will remain at the Rec despite interest from French clubs.
“We are currently handling contract related work,” Stuart said. “But for me it would mean the world of trying to get some silverware, especially after finishing last in the league after the defeat against Worcester two years ago. “That would make it even sweeter.
“The biggest emotion I felt after the World Cup was disappointment and I just wanted to step up and get involved. I was excited about where we could be as a club and wanted to get involved as quickly as possible. Johann’s path [van Graan] works at the club in a different way than before; He is very good at rotation. A few years ago I was playing 80 minutes a week in the trenches and it was affecting me a lot. Then I had a few years where I struggled with injury. Now with the rotation, everyone is getting better and the whole level of the team is rising.”