Will’s way: This is how you do it, Jase

PETER JACKSON

Scoring machine: Will Stuart goes over against New Zealand

PICTURE: Getty Images

As befitting a man in his position, Jason Leonard slogged his way through at least a thousand scrums in more than a century of Tests over the course of 14 years and scored one try for England. He had done more than his bit towards upholding the tradition that props have better things to do than get their names on the score-sheet.

Judging by his impact on Twickenham last weekend, nobody seemed to have told Will Stuart. He came off the bench and proceeded to score twice as many tries in seven minutes as Leonard managed in a long career.

No prop specialising in one side of the scrum or, as in Leonard’s case, proficient in both positions to the highest level, had ever done that to the All Blacks for whom Owen Franks remains the patron saint of non-scoring props. He played 108 Tests for New Zealand over ten years without troubling the scorers.

The same cannot be said of another All Black, Kees Meeuws, the only loosehead to take his try tally into double figures, and Martin Castrogiovanni. The colourful Italian tighthead remains out on his own as the David Campese of props with 12, including a hat-trick against Fiji in 2004.

Meeuws has good reason to keep an eye out for an old Irish warhorse coming up on the rails. Cian Healy, given a new lease of Test match life on the bench after being superseded on Ireland’s loosehead by Andrew Porter, claimed his eighth international try against Fiji earlier this month.