{"id":334667,"date":"2025-12-08T09:59:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334667\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T09:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:59:07","slug":"will-stuart-out-5-england-tighthead-options-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334667\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Stuart OUT? 5 England tighthead options ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"

England look set to be without British and Irish Lions tourist Will Stuart for the upcoming Six Nations campaign, with the tighthead suspected of rupturing his Achilles.<\/p>\n

Stuart, 29, has become a mainstay for both Bath and England over the past few seasons, and recently won his 50th Test cap during the 2025 Six Nations. He also featured in three of England\u2019s Autumn Nations Series Tests, forming part of the \u2018Pom Squad<\/a>\u2018.<\/p>\n

His form for the national side also earned him a spot on the Lions tour earlier this year, and he featured in each of the three Tests against the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

However, he now looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, after coming off early in the second-half during Bath\u2019s Investec Champions Cup win over Munster on Saturday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not in a good way\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, he\u2019s not in a good way,\u201d Bath head of rugby Johann van Graan<\/a> said on Stuart\u2019s injury. \u201cIt looks like it\u2019s his Achilles. I\u2019m no medical expert, but he couldn\u2019t even stand up when he got pulled off the field. I\u2019ll receive an update later, but it looks very serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

That initial diagnosis will leave England boss Steve Borthwick<\/a> needing to look at his tighthead stock ahead of the 2026 Six Nations, but who are the leading options to replace Stuart<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s our take on the current depth chart.<\/p>\n

Bath vs Munster: Five takeaways as hosts deliver \u2018crippling\u2019 performance with downpour defying \u2018swagger\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

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Front-runners: Joe Heyes<\/p>\n

The obvious candidate is Joe Heyes, with the Leicester man already a key part of the England 23-man squad. Heyes, who was named England\u2019s player of the summer after his exploits in the Americas, has really found his footing at Test level in 2025 after a pretty tough start in his early days in the white jersey. He has also started five of the past seven Tests for the national side, meaning he will know exactly the challenge in front of him this Six Nations as the proverbial leading option.<\/p>\n

In the mix: Asher Opoku-Fordjour<\/p>\n

After getting the nod to start against Los Pumas in the final Test of the autumn, Asher Opoku-Fordjour could also get an extended run in the side now in Stuart\u2019s absence. The Sale man is quickly becoming one of the best tightheads in the PREM, and that form is starting to transfer across to the Test stage too. He is going to be in this squad for some time, but giving him a decent run in this Six Nations will only speed up his development at this level and could even see him become the starting option.<\/p>\n

Outside bet: Afolabi Fasogbon, Trevor Davison<\/p>\n

Summer tourists Afolabi Fasogbon and Trevor Davison could also be in the mix for a recall for the senior squad, and would certainly warrant it too. Both players have enjoyed strong starts to the domestic season for Gloucester and Northampton respectively, and both bring that mix of solid scrummaging and tidy work around the park too. They have also been involved with the England squad in recent times as well, so are not far off the mix.<\/p>\n

Bolter: Vilikesa Sela<\/p>\n

Should Borthwick want to bring a bolter in, Vilikesa Sela could be fast-tracked into the senior squad. While this would be a bold call, Sela is certainly one for the future and bringing him into the squad would only aid his development moving forward. His selection in the England A squad also shows he is in Borthwick\u2019s thoughts \u2013 possibly for the future \u2013 but he did beat off stiff competition to make that squad.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Pau v Northampton: Five takeaways as Saints survive \u2018sterile Piardi effect\u2019 and the James Ramm red<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England look set to be without British and Irish Lions tourist Will Stuart for the upcoming Six Nations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,17345,1208,1379,818,1182,44,20248,760,85,9113,186789],"class_list":{"0":"post-334667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bath","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-features","13":"tag-home-page","14":"tag-internationals","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-premiership","17":"tag-rugby","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-steve-borthwick","20":"tag-will-stuart"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}