Thirty ribs no match for local All Black Nathan Harris

Nathan Harris playing for the All Blacks last year. Photo / Getty

Local All Black star Nathan Harris has proven his worth off the field by claiming the title of reigning rib-eating champion at a local restaurant.

The rugby star smashed the record of ribs eaten at The Mount's Cleaver & Co Restaurant weekly competition by munching a whopping 30 ribs in an hour.

This was three more ribs than the previous champion Steve Blake, who ate 27 ribs on August 13.

The All Black did not want to comment yesterday but earlier posted on his Instagram saying, "The competitive edge came out and ended up putting away 30 of the tastiest ribs in the Bay."

The post also said he was looking forward to the finals, followed by a fitting pig emoji and a hashtag saying "meatsweats".

Nathan Harris playing in the Mitre 10 Cup Steamers vs Otago game last month. Photo / File

Owner of Cleaver & Co The Mount Aaron Hodson said the all-you-can-eat-ribs competition was a weekly thing and ran every Tuesday from Easter to Labour Weekend.

Nine of the Bay of Plenty Steamers had come in last Tuesday and given the two-hour competition a "good nudge", he said.

He said Harris smashed it and had set a personal goal to complete it within an hour.

He was pretty sure his ribs had helped the Steamers roll the Taranaki team last weekend, which was concerning as he was a "Naki boy", he said.

People normally came in with "eyes bigger than their bellies" but would get nervous once they saw the decent-sized ribs, he said.

Each week one winner would be crowned and a final for all previous winners would be held on the week before Labour Weekend.

The Mount's Cleaver & Co Restaurant wrote on a post on its Facebook page that "Nate and some of the boys from the BOP Steamers had earlier threatened to eat us out of ribs and honestly, they got close."

They said a number of big groups had competed for the top spot at the competition last week.

A special mention was given to Harris saying, "See you at the finals big fulla!"

A bit of healthy competition did not go amiss, with his top competition Blake commenting "Good effort! I think I've got 36 next time."

Hodson said anyone considering coming in and giving it a crack should have a good pair of fat pants at home ready for afterward.