I’ll be doing drills with the wingers, jokes Stuart
ENGLAND hero Will Stuart is expecting finishing lessons this week despite leading the electrifying fightback that held New Zealand to a 25-25 draw at Twickenham on Saturday.
Stuart, the replacement tighthead, from Bath Rugby, who returning from a knee injury, emerged as the unexpected saviour by burrowing over twice from short range as the All Blacks crumbled in the final ten minutes.
In doing so he became the first England prop to score two tries in a single match, but his unconventional technique for scoring the first needed repeat viewings from the TMO before being approved.
“Will’s got a special session on Monday – how to score a try. I’ve never seen a player try to put the ball between his legs and score a try! It’s the most unusual technique!” head coach Eddie Jones joked.
Bath’s giant front row was at the forefront of a mighty display from England’s bench as the cavalry arrived to accelerate the All Blacks’ collapse from a position of control that was reflected by a 25-6 lead.
Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Dave Ribbans, Ben Youngs and Henry Slade also carried the fight to New Zealand, with Stuart’s 73rdminute opener igniting belief that defeat was avoidable.
“I nearly botched that first try completely and Eddie said I need to sort out my finishing drills, so I might be doing some of that with the wingers!” said Stuart, who was making his first appearance for six weeks because of a knee injury.
“It was PTSD from (forwards coach) Richard Cotterill because we’re used to presenting the ball as quickly as possible rather than scoring the try, so I just tried to snap the ball back as quickly as possible. Thankfully it did touch the ground at some point.
“I had quite a few family members down as well, so it was special to do it in front of them.
“All the lads who came on brought a big impact and it’s great to be part of a momentum swing like that, you can feel it. It’s exciting.
“Momentum in games is a weird thing because it’s so infectious. When you’re on the receiving end of it, it feels like everything is going wrong, and when you start getting phases together and applying them, there’s no better feeling.
“That’s especially the case for a forward getting around the corner, making carries. It’s pretty infectious and it’s a good feeling.”
England’s late flurry of tries – Freddie Steward also went over – spared Jones some uncomfortable questions over what had been an embarrassingly easy romp across Twickenham for the All Blacks.
“Credit to them, they were they were firing on all cylinders in the first half and we were nowhere near where it needs to be,” said Stuart.
“At the start of the second half we fired a few shots and then the momentum swings. The one thing we take out of it is the fightback – massively positive. Everyone’s happy with that, but we know there is so much more that we have to do.”