Working with very wet doughs.

I've been having a go recently at making baguettes. I've used Paul Hollywood's recipe (250g flour, 185ml water, 5g yeast, 5g sugar). He recommends not fully knocking back the dough after proving to keep some air in it, and I must admit I was really pleased with the finished baguette's taste and inner texture. However, it didn't really spring in the oven, and most of the rising was outward rather than upward. I found it so hard to manipulate the dough when shaping as it was so soft that I just ended up with a long thin splat rather than any sort of shape. Do I need to knead it more, or is there a knack to shaping these really wet doughs?