Ulster 36-10 Connacht: Dan McFarland praises Tom Stewart after maiden start

Tom Stewart scored a try in a player of the match performance on his maiden Ulster start

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says hooker Tom Stewart's "ceiling is obviously high" after an impressive maiden start against Connacht.

McFarland's side opened their United Rugby Championship campaign with a bonus-point win at Kingspan Stadium.

Stewart, 21, scored the second of five tries and was named player of the match for his performance.

"If he carries on developing the way he has, he has the ability to be a really good player," said McFarland.

• Five-try Ulster hammer Connacht in season opener

Stewart made his Ulster debut off the bench at the tail end of last season and was handed the starting jersey by McFarland for the season-opener at Kingspan Stadium.

The hooker is one of nine Ulster players named in the Emerging Ireland squad to tour South Africa in late September.

"He had a brilliant pre-season, an extended period of training. He is smart, tough and explosive," he added.

"His ceiling is obviously high. He is not the finished article, he's still developing physically and developing his skill set."

McCloskey 'ridiculously skilful'

McFarland said he was pleased with Ulster's win and added "any time you win an interpro you are happy".

Luke Marshall dotted down for Ulster's first try midway through the first half after a superb offload by Stuart McCloskey and McFarland said the centre is "ridiculously skilful".

"In another man's world Stu would have played for Ireland for the last five years but it is a competitive position, with British and Irish Lions in there," he added.

"I would love to see Stu wear the Ireland jersey, I think that would be brilliant and add another dimension to their play.

"If called upon he would do a great job.

"Stu is not massively vocal but is a really good defensive leader and quietly goes about his business. The other players love playing with him."

Marshall's try-scoring performance was the centre's first start following several long-term injuries and McFarland said the 31-year-old is the "heartbeat of the team".

"That is the first game he has started for a while but he is so proud to wear the jersey.

"He looks exhausted after 30 minutes of the game but just keeps going and offers something different to Stu. He is a good foil for him."

Of the opening day victory over Connacht, McFarland added: "Any time you win an interpro you are happy.

"Connacht are a good team and they have caused us trouble in the past, particularly around the breakdown and disrupting our attack.

"I was pleased with our breakdown work, but we were not as accurate as we needed to be. We were not as accurate as we might have been in our execution.

"Physically I thought we controlled the game, in the scrum and the maul, and we didn't lose our composure.

"I thought once we got the maul going we could cause them problems and that is what happened."