TomStewart is named the first winner of the 2022/23 United RugbyChampionship Awards.

Ulster hooker Tom Stewart crossed the white wash arecord-breaking 16 times over the course of the Vodacom URC regular season picking up the OFXTop Try Scorer award.

This kicks off three weeks of announcementsin the build-up to the Vodacom URC Grand Final on Saturday May 27.

Wednesday will see the winner of the TackleMachine and Turnover King crowned with the Elite XV, Try of the Season,Next-Gen Player of the Season and Vodacom Fans’ Player of the Season beingdisclosed next week.

Gilbert Golden Bootand Ironman will be awarded after the Semi-Final. While theBKT Coach of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season will be divulged inthe week of the Grand Final.

Here, we take a closer look at the OFX Top TryScorer award winner and the performances that led to Tom Stewarts achievement,which were determined using URC StatMaster data provided by Oval Insights.

OFX Top Try Scorer: Tom Stewart (Ulster) 16 tries

Stewart ended the season in stunning form forUlster to soar to the top of the Vodacom URC try-scoring charts in record-breakingfashion.

The 22-year-old hooker went over eight timesin his final four matches - including back-to-back hat-tricks - to move on to16 tries.

It surpassed the feat achieved by Tim Visser(Edinburgh, 2010/11) and Rabz Maxwane (Cheetahs, 2018/19) by two tries.

He finished the regular season four clear,with Edinburgh's Darcy Graham his nearest challenger with 12 while Connacht'sCaolin Blade had 11.

Simone Gesi (Zebre Parma), Rob Russell(Leinster) and Gavin Coombes (Munster) registered 10tries while Grant Williams (Cell C Sharks) and Fraser Brown (GlasgowWarriors) each had nine.