Thanks.
"At Twickenham against the Boks in November last year he was wrong-footed by a jinking Grant Williams, the scrum half who broke through England's defence and sent Steward the wrong way for a sensational try. Then, on his next start, it happened again, this time Ireland's Jamison Gibson-Park cutting inside him, Steward unable to lay a finger on the No9 as he went in to score.
As the rock at the back, the last line of defence, Steward took those two misreads to heart. He felt exposed, like a goalkeeper who has been fooled, feet in concrete, by a clever penalty. It shattered his confidence.
There were technical points to learn from the experience — shortening his steps while approaching a tackle, staying on his toes, working out cues for when the runner is going to change direction — but Steward found the mental side more difficult.
"Test matches are decided on fine margins, and stuff like that can determine outcomes," he says, ruing two games England lost — South Africa by nine points, Ireland by five.
"I got myself into a bit of a hole, psychologically, as I missed one or two, and then suddenly every time someone made a linebreak I'm like, 'Oh ****,' I'm overthinking everything, and lost that autopilot of 'I've been here before and can make that tackle.' Getting that back has been a challenge."
Michael Cheika has been Steward's third friend here. The Leicester head coach, and the attack coach, Peter Hewat, have worked with Steward on fine-tuning his ball-carrying, his evasion, and line-cutting from No15, which have all notably improved this season."
