09/11/2025
A full circle story. Is this where fairytale are made?
It’s strange how a ferry ride can feel like the beginning of something bigger. Stewart Moore must’ve sensed that as the cold wind whipped across the deck, carrying him from the familiar shores of Northern Ireland to the city where his father was born. Newcastle. A place that had always been a distant echo in family stories — his late grandfather’s rugby days at Northern, his sister’s time at university, the memories stitched into family lore. Now it’s where Stewart finds himself, not as a visitor this time, but as a man with something to prove.
For Ulster, Moore’s story had reached a pause. Seven seasons deep into professional rugby, a contract stretching to 2027, and yet, for reasons that sting in quiet moments, he hadn’t featured this season. Rugby can be a cruel kind of loyalty test. One day you’re scoring tries in front of thousands, the next you’re waiting for the call that doesn’t come. So when the Newcastle Red Bulls offered him a temporary home — a chance to play, to matter — he took it. Maybe it wasn’t a permanent move, but for Moore, it felt like oxygen.
What makes this story intriguing isn’t just the transfer itself, but the timing. Newcastle is shifting into a bold new era under the Red Bull banner — rebranding, rebuilding, and reaching for the kind of relevance English rugby has been craving. Into that swirl of ambition steps Moore, a centre who can also slot into the wing or full-back, a man who knows what it’s like to fight for space in crowded rooms. Sixteen appearances last season, three tries, and now a fresh start in a city that already feels like part of his DNA.
There’s something poetic about it — a Northern Irishman returning to his family’s English roots, not to chase nostalgia, but to carve out a new chapter. When he says, “I’m determined to come in and make things happen as quickly as possible,” it doesn’t sound like a press quote. It sounds like a promise to himself. He’s been through the lull of postponed games and unrealized chances — even his last scheduled outing against Edinburgh was canceled by gale-force winds, as if nature itself decided to delay his return to the field. Maybe this time, the storm finally clears.
Moore isn’t a headline-grabbing star. He’s something better — a worker, a thinker, a player who understands that rugby is as much about timing as it is about talent. He knows what it’s like to be on the outside looking in, and that’s what makes him dangerous now. He’s walked into a Newcastle squad led by Alan Dickens, a coach piecing together a team hungry for renewal. Dickens sees in Moore not just depth, but depth of experience — seventy-plus professional appearances that carry the quiet authority of someone who’s seen both triumph and turbulence.
For Moore, the Yorkshire training camp will be his reset button — new teammates, new energy, new purpose. Rugby careers are made up of moments that don’t announce themselves until much later, and this loan spell might just be one of those quiet turning points. Maybe in a few months, people will look back and realize that the ferry ride from Belfast wasn’t just a crossing — it was the start of a comeback.
