Stevens eager for Steenkamp battle

Such has been the nature of England’s tour to date that the arrival of new players from home has almost been a daily routine. However for Matt Stevens, England’s South African-born prop, the journey to link up with the squad was considerably shorter.

The Bath prop was on holiday visiting family in Cape Town when he was summoned as cover for the injured Nick Woods, and was only too happy to answer Brian Ashton’s SOS.

And unlike others, he was not overly surprised to receive a phone call requesting his services.

“I was a little surprised but I did have a nagging feeling that if I was in South Africa I may get a call,” admitted Stevens.

“I mean obviously Brian said he wouldn’t be picking any of the guys who played in the European finals but circumstances have changed Brian’s decision on that front.”

The late inclusion of Stevens in the squad could mean a starting berth on Saturday, which would reunite Stevens with an old adversary of his, the Springboks loose head Guthro Steenkamp.

The two heavyweights are no strangers having played against each other throughout their schoolboy days in South Africa. Stevens represented Kearsney College 1st XV between 1998 and 2001, whilst Steenkamp was a pupil at Paarl Boys’ High.

Having represented South Africa at Under-19 level Stevens found his path into the Under-21 national team blocked by Steenkamp and fellow Bulls prop Rayno Gerber. It was at this stage he opted to align himself with the English rose, and has never looked back since.

The prospect of doing battle with Steenkamp again is one that excites Stevens, although he is well aware of the challenges it will present.

“I have played against him quite a lot, all through school actually,” he said.

“I think he is playing very well at present and I think the South African front row as a whole has got quite a lot of depth and size.

“It will be good to go up against him again and really test myself. We used to enjoy some great battles in our school days and I will know what to expect if I am selected.”

Not only will Steenkamp pose England problems but also the Springbok pack in general.

Having gained something close to parity in the set piece last week England let themselves down greatly at the contact area and will need a vast improvement if they are to reverse the record defeat of the First Test.

“I think we have got over last weeks game,” said Stevens.

“The problem was we were on the back foot from the beginning and we didn’t really take the game to them, and this week we have got to step up to the plate from the outset

“I never doubted the front row guys last week, they are seriously experienced scrummagers and there was no chance they were not going to be a tough unit for the Springboks to face. It is a big scrum that we have to face but it is not something we haven’t had to face before.

“We just need to be a bit more attacking in the way we play but at the same time focusing on the positives of the set play from last week.

“As forwards we just need to correct the basics a little and provide more decent ball for the backs and not concede so much turn over ball.

“Every time we turned the ball over last week the Boks capitalized on it to great effect and that is a big area we have got to work on.”

To date Stevens has yet to play against his native land, something he is keen to finally do on Saturday if selected. It will undoubtedly be an emotional outing for the Bath prop and he is sure to receive a hostile reception from the Loftus faithful.

“It has been quite weird that every time England have played the Springboks I have either been out of contention or injured so its obviously a massive game for me and I will be honoured to be involved,” admitted Stevens.

“It is a massive game for me, and probably the biggest game I will have been involved in up until this stage in my career.

“Emotionally I think I am ready for this game and I have been since I made the choice to play for England.

“It is going to be a massive honour standing next to the boys and singing our anthem and I am just very keen to get on with it if I am picked.

“I’m not really going to be worried about the reception to be honest, what happens in the stand happens there. It is the eighty minutes on the field; that is what counts for me and I am just going to be focussing on that.”

Due to a shoulder injury, which required a reconstructive operation, Stevens last played for England against France in the 2006 Six Nations.

But despite being out of the game, Stevens has kept himself busy with a host of events, including appearing on ITV’s Celebrity X Factor, something which again brought him home to South Africa.

His chosen charity was the Nelson Mandela Children’s Trust Fund, for which he raised over #120,000 ($230,000), and as a result was lucky enough to meet the former South African president in person.

“I have always been a supporter of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and when I did the show I picked that as my charity,” he explained.

“We raised over #120,000 and he was gracious enough to invite me out to South Africa to have a chat about it.

“When I heard that I jumped on the next plane and was lucky enough to meet the man himself.

“He is definitetly a Springbok fan, we all know that, so I took him over a Bath jersey. I don’t think he would have accepted an England one!

“He was very lucid about the whole game and how the Boks were going. It was a bit like meeting a school headmaster only he was a lot more loveable.”

Stevens’s knowledge of Afrikaans may well be of use on Saturday as he will be in a position to understand the Springbok line-out calls. It may seem a trivial point but England need all the help they can get at the moment with the challenges that lie ahead.

“I don’t know if they are just going to use Afrikaans for their calls,” he said.

“I’m sure Victor Matfield, being the technical line out guru that he is, will probably mix them up. But if he does use Afrikaans I will be listening in closely,” he said.

“I think it is going to be a big challenge for the England front row, they [South Africa] are a good set up and big boys.

“We have got those challenges to face, that is what we have been working on in training and hopefully we can bring that out in the game.”

By Marcus Leach in Centurion