As Matt Stevens has found, perception can be a problem. Since his singing appearance on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars two years ago, many have assumed that Stevens is a freewheeling, guitar-playing character who cannot possibly take life seriously enough to cut it in international rugby.

It is a notion that the Bath prop forward is keen to allay, especially with the November internationals and the RBS Six Nations Championship looming. Stevens has other interests in life - he was recently invited to record a song with Ladysmith Black Mambazo - but makes no apology for that. “I like to have balance in my life and get away from rugby, and in doing so it improves my rugby,” he said.

As he prepares for one of the ultimate examinations at club level tomorrow, the Heineken Cup pool five match away to Toulouse, Stevens admits to some frustration at being typecast. Statistics demonstrate the primacy of Bath's set-piece; their scrum and lineout have been in the top two in England this season and last. Should anyone doubt that he is hardcore as well as hard-running, Stevens emphasises that, without the solid platform that he helps to provide, Bath would be unable to entertain the high-tempo offload game that has become their hallmark.

“We call it BQB, Bath Quality Ball,” Stevens said. “You can't be so direct without it. Being born in South Africa, I pride myself on scrummaging. People see me running around and think I mustn't be doing the basics.”

The remodelled Stevens who has hit his stride in his past two games, the victories over Worcester Warriors and especially London Wasps, is enjoying being free of niggles. Leaner but more powerful, he has been working hard under his club and international conditioners and, at 26, feels ready to assert himself as England's best tight-head. The environment that Martin Johnson, the team manager, is creating for England is one in which Stevens believes he can flourish.

“Phil Vickery [the Wasps and England prop] is a great player, but I am coming to the stage where I have to say I am fighting for my place,” Stevens said. “I want that No 3 jersey.”

Stevens is a well-rounded individual who found fame of sorts through his exploits on the ITV celebrity music show, raising a small fortune for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. Now he is lending considerable support to a fledgeling rugby team that Georgina, his mother, and Kate Oram, the Bath media manager, are helping to develop in a Cape Town township. The club is called Vulindlela, which means “open the way” in Xhosa.

“It is really good character-building for young kids,” Stevens, who is eyeing a place on next summer's Lions tour to South Africa, said. “In those areas they are hugely exposed to gang culture and drugs and that could have a really negative impact upon them. What is great about sport is that it can help people transcend social and financial barriers. Vulindlela will have a face, it will achieve things. It is tangible. It is an easy way to see kids' own lives improving as they are achieving.”

The club now have 28 boys aged up to 19. They have enthusiasm, but no money and little equipment. Transport, too, is a problem, with children sometimes having to walk through dangerous neighbourhoods to train under dim lights on soggy ground or tarmac, often in bare feet. “It's a great venture and I know any help with training equipment and kit would be very welcome,” Stevens said.

Back, though, to Toulouse. Stevens could not be more excited by the prospect of the confrontation in a city in which he has yet to play. “There is a real anxious excitement in the squad,” he said. “We all realise we could start something quite special in the history of this club. It is a massive game.”