Tom Stewart ready to make up for lost time as hooker makes Ulster return after injury
Tom Stewart has used his time away from the pitch to good effect with the Ulster hooker only featuring in two games and playing 50 minutes this season due to an ankle injury.
Now back fully fit, the 24-year-old is hoping to recapture the form of two seasons ago when he scored 16 tries in the United Rugby Championship and earned two Ireland caps.
Stewart starts his first game of the season as Ulster host Zebre in the United Rugby Championship at Kingspan Stadium on Sunday evening (5.30pm) and is hoping the time spent in the gym during his lay-off will pay dividends.
“I was trying to put on a bit of size, a bit of good weight and unfortunately there was a bit of bad weight put on too at the start, but I got some of that shifted,” he said.
"I’m feeling good and confident and I’m hoping it’s something I can add into my game as a bit of extra beef to carry around.
“It was a bit of a conversation between myself and the coaches, and the coaches were happy enough. I did it and I was happy enough that it would help my game kick on so it was a bit of a collective decision.
“I had to work closely with the nutritionist to get stuff sorted around my eating patterns and more habits around eating.
"It’s tough to put on good weight – at times you need to put on some bad weight to put on some good weight – but a lot of it is nutrition and getting stuck into the gym.”
Stewart came off the bench to play the last 23 minutes against Exeter and admits he felt ‘punctured’ by the exertion.
“I definitely don’t know if I felt the benefit, I was punctured out there,” he said. "I just need minutes under the belt and once I get confident playing at this weight, I think it will be good in the long run.”
With Rob Herring away on Six Nations duty with Ireland, Stewart is hoping to re-establish himself in the middle of the Ulster front row.
“It’s nice to be able to get some minutes in. Obviously during this break in the Six Nations there aren’t an awful lot of games to go after, but it will be nice to get training in and get a lot of reps with the boys, and getting back into the team consistently,” he added.
“We’ve a good fixture against Queensland Reds which I’m really looking forward to and an opportunity to build some more minutes.”
Stewart has scored four tries in his previous two appearances against Zebre but is expecting a tough battle at the coalface against the Italians.
“They’re a team who can cause a lot of bother, especially out wide too, but they’ll have a big scrum as Italian sides do, so we’ve got to be really detailed and deliver with our actions in the pack going forward,” Stewart added.
“It’s a big game for us – we’re sitting ninth in the league – and an opportunity to potentially get up into those play-off spots, and that’s something we’re going after.
“By no means is my scrummaging perfect and there are a lot of things I need to work on scrum-wise to kick on to the next level at international level, so I think we’re all focusing on our own role and hopefully that feeds into the collective.”
Lorcan McLoughlin, fresh from scoring a hat-trick of tries for Queen’s against Highfield last weekend, makes his first start for Ulster. His only previous appearance in the white shirt came from the bench against the Lions in November 2023.
Ulster: S Moore; M Lowry, B Carson, J Postlethwaite, Z Ward; J Murphy, J Cooney; E O'Sullivan, T Stewart, S Wilson; K Treadwell, H Sheridan; L McLoughlin, N Timoney (capt), D McCann.
Replacements: C Reid, J Andrew, C Barrett, A O'Connor, Matty Rea, N Doak, J Flannery, R Lyttle.