URC Awards Double For Ulster Hooker Stewart
Ulster hooker Tom Stewart toured South Africa with Emerging Ireland and was brought into Ireland's Guinness Six Nations squad as injury cover ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Ulster hooker Tom Stewart has landed an awards double after being named United Rugby Championship’s Next-Gen Player of the Season for 2022/23.
This accolade is open only to players aged under 23 at the start of the season and who have earned no more than five international caps at that point, with a media panel voting for the winner.
Players are also required to have made a minimum of nine BKT United Rugby Championship appearances to qualify.
The 22-year-old Stewart claimed the first trophy to be handed out when receiving the OFX Top Try Scorer award having crossed a record-breaking 16 times this season.
It surpassed the feat achieved by Tim Visser (Edinburgh, 2010/11) and Rabz Maxwane (Cheetahs, 2018/19) by two tries.
Stewart has now followed that up by taking the Next-Gen prize having also finished in the top 15 in the league for points, carries, lineout steals and tackles.
His performances this season saw him called into the Ireland squad for the Guinness Six Nations as injury cover, although he is yet to win his first cap.
Ulster head coach Dan McFarland has been full of praise for Stewart’s achievements this term.
“Tom’s been brilliant,” he said. “There is a skill to scoring tries off the back of a maul. Some of them are pretty easy but some of them are pretty difficult and he’s worked hard for that.
“People think it’s just about dotting them down but you need to read the timing when to break out of the back. He’s got a lot of decision-making to do and there’s a lot of skill in the execution.”
2022/23 BKT UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP AWARDS:
OFX Top Try Scorer: Tom Stewart (Ulster)
Tackle Machine: John Hodnett (Munster)
Turnover King: Thomas Young (Cardiff)
Next-Gen Player of the Season: Tom Stewart (Ulster)