Freddie Nicholas Overbury Steward (born 5 December 2000) is an English professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a fullback for

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

club

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

and the

England national team Team England usually refers to the name under which athletes representing Commonwealth Games England compete. England team or Team England may refer to: *Commonwealth Games England *England national football team *England cricket team *England nat ...

Early life

Steward started playing rugby at

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District and England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the U ...

RFC, but at ten years old he moved to Holt RFC as Swaffham's age group folded. He initially played fly half, before moving to inside centre at

Norwich School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a private selective day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as an episcop ...

and settling at full back at 16. Steward came through the

academy.

Club career

Steward made his senior debut as a replacement on 26 January 2019 in a 47–20 defeat to

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

Franklin's Gardens Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning. The stadiu ...

in the

Premiership Rugby Cup The Premiership Rugby Cup is an English rugby union knockout cup competition for teams in Premiership Rugby and from the 2023–24 season the RFU Championship. It was created in 2018 to replace the Anglo-Welsh Cup after the withdrawal of the Wels ...

. Two weeks later Steward was back playing for Leicester's under-18 side as they won a second successive league title. Steward was a late call-up to the bench on 8 March 2019 to make his Premiership Rugby debut as a replacement in a 32–5 defeat to

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. Its team play in Premiership Rugby, and have been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1995. Originally founded in 1861 as ...

at the

AJ Bell Stadium The Salford Community Stadium is a rugby stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, England, built to replace Salford rugby league club's ground the Willows for the 2012 season. Sale Sharks rugby union club have also played at the stadium since the 2012 ...

. His first appearance at Welford Road was in a

on 27 September 2019 against

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

. Steward scored his first try for Leicester in a 2019-20 European Rugby Challenge Cup against

Calvisano Calvisano (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the Italian province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is the manufacturing base of Lones Spa, manufacturer of Fly Flot shoes. Agritech is a known fiberglass silos company. Sport Its rugby union Rugby ...

. Steward was highlighted as one of the potential breakout players in the 2019-20 Premiership Rugby season by ''Rugbypass''. He started the 2022 Premiership Rugby final as Tigers beat

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

15–12. On his first match for Leicester of the

2022-23 Premiership Rugby The symbol , known in Unicode as hyphen-minus, is the form of hyphen most commonly used in digital documents. On most keyboards, it is the only character that resembles a minus sign or a dash, so it is also used for these. The name ''hyphen-min ...

season, Steward scored a hat-trick in the 250th

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

derby as Leicester beat

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

41–21. On 28 September 2022, Steward extended his contract at Leicester. Steward made his 100th appearance for Leicester on 11 January 2025 in a Champions Cup match against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

at Welford Road.

International career

On 3 January 2020 Steward was named in the England under 20 squad for the 2020 Six Nations Championship. Steward made his full England debut on 4 July 2021 when he started at full back against the at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

. He scored his first England try on 13 November 2021, after taking a pass from Marcus Smith he rounded full-back

Kurtley Beale Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal desce ...

for a first half score as England beat 32–15. In May 2022 Steward was named as the

Rugby Players' Association The Rugby Players' Association (RPA) is a trade union representing elite rugby rugby union players in England. The RPA is the representative body and collective voice of elite rugby players in England and represents more than 600 male and female c ...

''Player's Young player of the year'' and ''England men's player of the season'', as well as being named in their inaugural under-23 team of the season. Steward was selected for the

2022 England rugby union tour of Australia In July 2022, England played a three-test series against Australia as part of the 2022 mid-year rugby union tests. They played the Wallabies at three locations across Australia within as many weeks, with the overall winner receiving the Ella-Mobb ...

, starting at full back in all three tests as England won the series 2–1. On 21 November 2022, Steward was named in

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

's ''team of the year'' as the best full back. On 17 May 2023, Steward was named for the second year in succession as the

''England men's player of the season''. On 7 August 2023, Steward was named in England's squad for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

. Steward sometimes kicks penalties from long range.

Career statistics

List of international tries

, - , style="text-align:center;", 1 , 13 November 2021 ,

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England , , style="text-align:center;", 5–3 , ,

2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2021 end of year rugby union tests, also referred to as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, were rugby union test matches during October and November 2021, mainly involving countries from the Northern Hemisphere hosting those ...

, - , style="text-align:center;", 2 , 20 November 2021 ,

, England , , style="text-align:center;", 12–3 , ,

, - , style="text-align:center;", 3 , 19 March 2022 ,

Stade de France Stade de France (, ) is the national stadium of France, located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis. Its seating capacity of 80,698 makes it the List of football stadiums in France, largest stadium i ...

, Saint-Denis, France , , style="text-align:center;", 11–18 , ,

2022 Six Nations Championship The 2022 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 23rd Six Nations Championship, the annual rugby union competition contested by the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, ...

, - , style="text-align:center;", 4 , 16 July 2022 ,

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia , , style="text-align:center;", 11–10 , ,

, - , style="text-align:center;", 5 , 12 November 2022 ,

, England , , style="text-align:center;", 8–0 , ,

2022 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2022 end of year rugby union tests, also known as the 2022 Autumn internationals, were a number of rugby union test matches played during the months of October and November. Some of the games were known as the Autumn Nations Series for marketin ...

, - , style="text-align:center;", 6 , 19 November 2022 ,

, England , , style="text-align:center;", 23–25 , ,

, - , style="text-align:center;", 7 , 11 March 2023 ,

, England , , style="text-align:center;", 8–27 , ,

2023 Six Nations Championship The men's 2023 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was the 24th Six Nations Championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy ...

, - , style="text-align:center;", 8 , 17 September 2023 , Stade de Nice,

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million 2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup () was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Steward, Freddie 2000 births Living people People educated at Norwich School England international rugby union players English rugby union players Leicester Tigers players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Dereham 2023 Rugby World Cup players