Tom Stewart of Ulster is quickly emerging as rugby's Erling Haaland after writing himself into the record books.
On Friday night, the hooker made it back-to-back hat-tricks, breaking the previous United Rugby Championship try-scoring record.
The 22-year-old touched down three times to ease Ulster to a 40-19 victory over the Dragons and edge the province into the top two of the URC standings, and on course for a home quarter-final and potentially semi-final.
Stewart's hat-trick means he is now the leading try-scorer in the competition's history, having remarkably scored 17 during the 2022-23 season.
It has been an incredible campaign, one that emulates Manchester City superstar footballer Haaland who has scored 47 goals already this season, including six hat-tricks across all competitions.
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Stewart, who also scored a treble against the Bulls in Ulster's previous game, said: “There were some pretty easy tries out there and I’m not sure if I can take credit for any of them.
“Two were maul tries with the guys at the front doing the job and then for the third I just had to dot the ball down after some good running by the boys.”
Stewart attended Belfast Royal Academy and captained Ulster U18s before joining their Academy in June 2019. He was awarded the prestigious Danske Bank Ulster Schools’ Player of the Year in 2019.
He signed a development contract with Ulster in January 2021 and made his senior debut in December 2021 in an away defeat to Ospreys. Stewart was called up to Ireland's Six Nations squad as an injury replacement but has yet to make his international debut.
Ulster coach Dan McFarland hailed Stewart as "brilliant" following his stellar season to date.
He added: "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."
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