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On an occasion likened to the Last Night of the Proms, it was Stevens’ first night as a prop in the England team, albeit one of the non-cap variety. Stevens was a run-on tighthead for England in the World Under-21 Champion-ship in 2003 (after which the coach, Brian Ashton, identified him and scrum-half Clive Stuart-Smith as having “responded to the intensity and the challenge of this level of competition”).Later the same year, when Martin Johnson’s World Cup winners came home for a celebration match against the New Zealand Barbarians at Twickenham, Phil Vickery was injured and Julian White about to undergo an operation. “If England look after him properly,” said Bath’s head coach, John Connolly, last season, “they will have a champion tighthead at their disposal.”Look after him? Robinson is showing signs of building a team around him. Since joining Bath – he is in his third year studying economics and politics at the city’s university – he has made 11 starts, and 42 more appearances as a substitute. Secondly, I want a good work-rate around the field, to make a difference. Obviously if you lose you don’t ever think you did enough.”Rarely in his young career has Stevens started and finished; Magnus Magnusson he ain’t.

Firstly, I always want to scrummage well, and I’m glad I wasn’t pulled off – that the coaches had that trust in me. Not even when, like Kaplan, he is an old neighbour (he and Stevens lived on the same street in the Morningside suburb of Durban). When Josh [Lewsey] was shouting at the ref for a try I was right there but I couldn’t see it and I wasn’t really thinking about it. I was thinking about the next scrum.”Props are not sheepdogs: they don’t respond well to men with whistles. A lot of the guys weren’t worried about it during the match, but obviously thinking about it afterwards they were pretty pissed off. Asked about Kaplan’s refereeing, Stevens said: “It was fine, he had a good game.” Unfortunately that was about five years ago, when Stevens was playing for his school, Kearsney in Durban.What about last Sunday, Matt? “I don’t think he had a great game, but that’s not for me to worry about. Different role, same challenge of preventing his head being rammed between his shoulder blades.

“Your neck is your livelihood,” said Stevens with a half-rueful relish.Gallows humour comes with the job. Which is prop-speak for “actually, I did bloody well, but it doesn’t do to blow your own trumpet in this game”.One reason is that the next pack of opposing forwards is never long in charging over the horizon, and Stevens turns out today for his club, Bath, at Gloucester in the Powergen Cup, this time on the loosehead side of the scrum. “Matt Stevens had an awesome game at tighthead,” said the coach.
Stevens himself was more circumspect. “I’m glad I didn’t disappoint too much,” said the 22-year-old South African of his first start for his adopted country. Lost somewhere in the war of words surrounding Jonathan Kaplan in Dublin was a public message of congratulation delivered by Andy Robinson to England’s newest Six Nations prop. France were leading 15-3 when Julien Laharrague made a surging run down the left and the French had a two-to-one advantage over Thomas, but the Welsh captain duped the Frenchman into having a go himself and nailed him.But for that tackle, France would have been at least 20-3 ahead. As it turned out, Jones potted a penalty that made it 15-6 and left the door open for Wales.Strange as it may seem, France will have got more confidence from that defeat than they did from their previous two victories, and Ireland had better be warned that the French will have their cutting edge back when the sides meet at Dublin on Saturday..