WHEN ANDY FARRELL was asked about Tom Stewart ahead of his impending Test debut earlier this month, the Ireland head coach spoke about the Ulster hooker’s talent and work rate before offering a glimpse of what the 22-year-old is like behind the scenes.
“He’s a silent assassin,” Farrell explained. “He doesn’t say much but he’s a quiet achiever.”
Just a few short weeks later, the silent assassin has emerged as a potential bolter for Ireland’s World Cup squad.
This Saturday sees Stewart win just his second cap, and first Test start, having been named in Farrell’s starting XV to face Samoa in Ireland’s final World Cup warm-up game.
The highly-rated Stewart is viewed as a player for the future but he could end up one of the big winners of Ireland’s pre-season camp after fellow hookers Dan Sheehan and Rónan Kelleher were both hit with injury scares.
Sheehan is a pivotal member of Farrell’s strongest starting XV but didn’t travel with the squad to France this week after suffering a foot injury in the win against England last Saturday. Farrell says Ireland expect Sheehan to be fit for the World Cup, without putting a date on his return.
The noises around Kelleher’s hamstring issue have also been positive but with two hookers on the treatment table ahead of Ireland’s World Cup opener against Romania on 9 September, Farrell needs to take a closer look at his other options.
Stewart is one of three hookers training in France his week, along with Ulster teammate Rob Herring and the uncapped Diarmuid Barron – who was called into the squad following Sheehan’s injury.
Herring is the most likely to get the call should Sheehan and/or Kelleher be unavailable for a World Cup pool game but this weekend, Stewart has a golden opportunity to further his case.
A trip to the World Cup would be the icing on the cake for a player who has shot up the ranks at Ulster.
When Ireland were gearing up for the 2019 World Cup in Japan, Stewart was being crowned Ulster Schools’ Player of the Year for his exploits with Belfast Royal Academy. The following year he was a Six Nations winner with the Ireland U20s before injury and the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted his progress for the guts of two years.
Once fit again, he started to knock on the door with Ulster, debuting in December 2021.
He went on to make another five appearances off the bench that season before enjoying a remarkable breakthrough year in the season just gone, starting 12 times across 19 appearance for the province – with Stewart highlighting a try-scoring display on his first appearance of the campaign in the home win against Connacht as the spur that kick-started his superb run of form.
All along, he had the eye of the Ireland coaches. Stewart made a strong impression on the Emerging Ireland tour at the beginning of last season and by the time the Six Nations rolled around, he had played his way into the senior squad – earning a late call up as cover for the injured Kelleher ahead of the tournament.
He didn’t get that first Ireland cap in the spring but Stewart finished the season strong with Ulster, his form rewarded with a place in Farrell’s pre-World Cup training squad.
Stewart is still a relatively raw talent but the Irish coaches have liked what they’ve seen in camp.
His lineout work is solid and the Belfast man is also able to get involved around the pitch in open play.
Yet his outstanding attribute is his scoring rate. Stewart was the URC’s top try-scorer last season after crossing a record-breaking 16 times – including back-to-back hat-tricks against the Bulls and Dragons – and the former Antrim man is particularly prolific at maul time.
Some areas still need a little bit of work. Stewart has acknowledged that his scrummaging is not quite at Test level yet but he equipped himself well alongside the formidable duo of Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong on debut against Italy, playing the final 29 minutes after replacing Herring.
This week will be a different type of test as Stewart is thrown in from the start against Samoa, lining out alongside Healy and Finlay Bealham in a new-look Ireland front row.
Will a big performance be enough to stamp his World Cup ticket?
At the moment, it’s difficult to know. Joe Schmidt took three hookers to the 2019 World Cup – Rory Best, Sean Cronin and Niall Scannell – and it was expected Farrell would do the same. He might now be tempted to select four hookers in his 33-man squad but that would require a cut elsewhere. Images of Ireland’s scrum-halves practicing their lineout work during the week perhaps suggests Farrell is willing to take some risks.
It appears Sheehan will be included in the World Cup squad so the biggest question mark might be around Kelleher – who hasn’t played for Ireland since March. If both are touch and go for the opening pool games and Farrell opts for just three hookers, Kelleher could find his place under threat.
It’s not hard to envision Ireland going into the Romania and Tonga games with Herring and Stewart as their two hookers with an eye to welcoming Sheehan back for the bigger challenges down the line.
Otherwise, Stewart will be the next cab off the rank should Farrell go with Sheehan, Kelleher and Herring and one of the three pulls up with a problem.
All Stewart can do this weekend is try give the Ireland boss something to think about.
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