England fullback Freddie Steward has issued a warning to France ahead of Saturday’s Round 4 Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham. 

The 22-year-old was voted player of the match in the Round 3 win over Wales in Cardiff,= after he impressively dealt with a deluge of high balls, and he is hoping the French adopt the same tactic and target him with a pile more kicks in a few days’ time.

Asked during a 14-minute interview on the latest Rugby Pod if he wanted France to rain high balls down on top of him in London, Steward said: “I hope so.”

Composure under the high ball has been classed as the fullback’s super skill with the England team, but he insisted a vast amount of work goes into it, and he isn’t completely happy with its effectiveness, despite his eye-catching performance at the Principality Stadium.

“I dropped one against Wales,” he quipped before detailing what he gets up to prepare. “Loads, loads of hard work. I guess it’s like not being satisfied with where it is at the minute. I have got to keep pushing, keep working hard on it. I don’t want to sort of slack off on it and then all of a sudden, it’s not working on a game day.

“So, after training, we always get the big bag out. We get Nate (sports scientist Nathan Beardsley), one of the S&C guys, under it, which is quite fun, knee in the back, but he is brilliant. It’s good fun, and I enjoy it.”

Quizzed specifically on how France is faring in the championship with a similar 2-1 record to England, Steward added: “They have played in different ways in their first couple of games. The challenge for us is to try and see what is coming. They are the No. 2 team in the world, and we know they are going to be unbelievable at the weekend. They are a very strong outfit. (Antoine) Dupont, (Romain) Ntamack, fantastic players. It is going to be a challenge for us, but the boys are really excited. We are just keen to get stuck into it.”

It was July 2021 when Steward first burst onto the England scene after impressing at Leicester, and he has blossomed on the international stage. 

Who has been his toughest opponent, though, when it comes to testing him under kicks? 

“The one that springs to mind is Finn Russell last year when we played Scotland away,” he revealed. “It was my first ever game in the Six Nations. I’d never played (against) Finn before, and when you are 15 and coming up against a team, the 10 is always the man you try and study.

A classic Finn intercept from 2019. #AsOne | #ScovIre pic.twitter.com/rTFhDHGLY0

— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) March 8, 2023

“You try and figure out his triggers, where he is going to kick and what he does before he kicks. Finn is one of those players you never know. He has got a box of tricks, and he has got the ability that if you are out of position, to expose you in seconds, so I didn’t enjoy coming up against him.”