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‘Tough’ Wallabies squad member rewarded by Force after breakout season

Hamish Stewart poses during an Australia Wallabies Portrait Session on June 26, 2024 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images for ARU)

Wallabies squad member Hamish Stewart has been rewarded by the Western Force for a breakout season in Super Rugby Pacific. Stewart was a mainstay in the Force’s midfield in 2024 and that’ll likely continue into next season with the utility re-signing with the club.

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Stewart wore the No. 12 jumper in all 14 appearances for the Force last season. The 26-year-old, who used to play for the Queensland Reds before moving out west before the 2023 season, played 80 minutes in all but three of those matches as well.

Coach Simon Cron turned to Stewart time and time again, and the headgear-wearing talent repaid the faith by finishing the season equal fourth for tackles (180) across the competition and he also had a team-high 85 carries.

 

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Wallabies selectors clearly liked what they saw from Stewart in Super Rugby Pacific with Joe Schmidt calling the Queenslander into the national setup for the first time. Stewart was named in Australia’s squad for the July series and later the upcoming Tests against the Springboks.

Stewart is yet to debut at Test level but he’s obviously not too far away. With the playmaker showing tremendous signs of improvement in the season just gone, Stewart was keen to seize the opportunity to re-sign with the Force.

“I’ve loved life in the west over the past two seasons playing alongside close friends for a club moving in a positive direction, so I’m thrilled to re-sign with the Force,” Stewart said in a statement.

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“I’m also enthused by what the Force program and coaches can do for my development, given what I achieved personally in 2024 with my first Wallabies call-up.”

Stewart is the latest player to recommit to the Force. Earlier this week, Australia U20s prospect Divad Palu penned a deal with the Force for the 2025 season. The centre was previously with the Melbourne Rebels.

With others including Wallabies Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Darcy Swain committing to respective contracts out west, as well as the likes of Nic Dolly, Nick Campion de Crespigny and Harry Johnson-Holmes, there’s a reason to be optimistic about the direction of the club.

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Head coach Simon Cron, who worked with Stewart at Australia U20s level some years ago, was upbeat about the club re-signing a player who’s coming off “one of the best seasons I’ve seen of Super Rugby.”

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“Having Hamish re-sign shows he’s really investing in the Western Force and WA rugby,” Cron said.

“I think he had one of the best seasons I’ve seen of Super Rugby this year. He’s tough, he’s strong, works really hard.

“The boys love him. He’s the kind of guy that leads by doing. He does a lot for us as a team.

“Personally and for us, as a franchise, we were really happy to have him coming back.”

Stewart was one of six uncapped players included in the Wallabies’ squad for their upcoming Tests against two-time defending men’s Rugby World Cup champions the Springboks as part of The Rugby Championship.

Force flanker Carlo Tizzano is also in the mix to debut when the Australians take on South Africa at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on August 10 and then at Perth’s Optus Stadium on August 17.

In this episode of Walk the Talk, Jim Hamilton chats with double World Cup winner Damian de Allende about all things Springbok rugby, including RWC2023 and the upcoming Ireland series. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV

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RedWarrior 3 hours ago
Could Jacques Nienaber be linked with Ireland job after exerting Bok influence on Leinster?

The disjointed Ireland AI matches are as a result of the imbalance between Leinsters style and Ireland's style in my opinion. Ireland probably should get Felix Jones in to work defence. With Nienaber in Leinster and Jones in Ireland, the International team would become incredibly difficult for anyone to beat. That situation is Ireland's problem now not Leinsters.

A fully loaded Toulouse team last year were saved by the width of a post from Frawleys drop and a decision not to take a scrum (Leinster were smashing Toulouse) probbaly gaining a penalty or minumim a drop attempt.

Leinster are concedeing 8 points less than last year and that is including 2 outlier matches (Edinburgh and Ulster) where high points were conceded in controlled wins.

Toulouse will have to be better than last year to beat Leinster.

I am amazed at your assessment that they are not favourites for the URC. They have a lot of clear ground leading the league. They will finish in first place and have home matches all the way. They lost last year away in Pretoria to an impressive Bulls performance. If a URC team wants to win the URC they will have to beat Leinster in the Aviva. Maybe, but Leinster are favourites surely?

Lastly you will see how the depth of Leinster is maturing. Last year the second team shipped points in SA. Its Bulls and Sharks for them this year. Lets see what happens there.

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