When Freddie Steward marked his return to the England team against Argentina last weekend, he did more than end nearly two years without a try. He put his hand up for a British & Irish Lions emergency call.
Andy Farrell, the Lions head coach, chose not to replace like for like when full-back Elliot Daly broke his left forearm against Queensland Reds, electing instead to add another fly-half/centre in Owen Farrell.
It means with Hugo Keenan only one game back from a calf injury sustained in Leinster’s URC quarter-final win over Scarlets a month ago, and Blair Kinghorn who started against the Waratahs, after his late arrival post Top-14 final, the tourists are both light and undercooked at fullback.
Until last Saturday evening, Steward was not seen as a contender. England’s pretty much ever-present 15 between 2021 and 2024 had lost his place, first to George Furbank, then Marcus Smith.
The stardust he sprinkled so liberally on Twickenham and so many places besides in his first 33 Test appearances, seemed to run out.
So what happened in La Plata the other night was huge for the 24-year-old. At a bouncing Estadio Uno, he came through the other side.
Overcoming self-doubt
Steve Borthwick gave him his first start since dropping him from the national squad in February and the coach was repaid with a strong display capped off with the second of England’s four tries.
How different the world seems to Steward today. The smile is back on his face, avenues which appeared closed to him in springtime are slowly opening again.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the shirt and it’s been tough,” he told Planet Rugby. “Self-doubt kicks in. You’re only human. You do start to think ‘Am I really not good enough’?
“Saturday was an important game for me, a chance to put a marker down and try to fight my way back into that spot.
“You take it in your stride when it’s going well, you’re not really thinking about stuff. When it comes the other way, that is when you really start to find out about yourself.
“It gets lonely. You naturally feel like everything is against you and it’s easy to victimise yourself, which I probably did at the start.”
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Steward says he owes so much to his support network – family, girlfriend, close mates, people away from rugby who he can rely on – for getting him through the darkest times.
“You have to find things that you have probably ignored when everything is going well,” he added. “You find out a lot about yourself and who you are. Mentally, you have to be tough.
“It’s been a hell of a journey but I’m more resilient off the back of it. It has made me better, 100 per cent.”
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Keeping an eye Down Under
The Leicester man flies to San Juan for Saturday’s second Test against a Pumas side bent on avenging last weekend’s 35-12 reversal.
That is very much his focus, “as emotionally, they will be supercharged, wanting to settle that score”.
But, with the Lions having already lost two players to injury in Daly and Tomos Williams, he is professionally obliged to have half an eye on events down under.
“It’s one of those and it’s the same for a lot of guys here, you’ve got to be ready,” he said. “You never know when it could come calling, what is going to happen there if someone goes down. Of course it’s at the back of your mind.”
Steward has forever been known for his work under the high ball, rightly so given how accomplished he is in that facet of play.
But the experience of this year has taught him he needs to add other strings to his bow.
“Everyone talks about the high ball stuff and the aerial game, which is all well and good, but I want to be able to influence the game and affect the game in other ways,” he acknowledged.
“So I’ve put in a lot of hard work this season with the attacking side of my game. I’m just glad it showed last weekend.”