McCloskey out to prove that he’s so much more than just a solid centre
IS Stuart McCloskey the unluckiest midfielder in the history of the national team? The barnstorming Ulster centre is set to win his 16th Test cap this afternoon, a fairly paltry return for a player who delivers such consistent excellence on the provincial beat.
His province has endured no shortage of ups and downs since he made his senior debut in 2015, but McCloskey has been an ever-reliable, gain-line busting arrowhead in midfield. He has been Ulster’s go-to man for a long, long time. He is on course to reach 200 appearances for the club and is revered by the Ravenhill faithful.
Yet his exposure with Ireland has been limited at best.
You look back at the international careers of Kevin Maggs and Rob Henderson and wonder what might have been for the Bangor native if he had broken through in a different era?
Maggs and Henderson were both old-school, inside centres as well. Brute force was their USP. The easiest way to make ground from A to B was a straight line. No one did it better than Maggs, who retired with 70 international caps to his name.
Henderson was cast from the same mould. The affable former Wasps and Munster man was hampered by injuries but he scaled some dizzying heights during a relatively short career. His performances alongside Brian O’Driscoll during the 2001 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia springs to mind. Henderson was a force of nature when he hit top gear.
McCloskey would probably look at his two predecessors with a degree of envy.
If anything, he has been a more rounded operator. He is not just a crash ball merchant, far from it. Perhaps he was typecast by a few top coaches? There is plenty of variety to his game as well. His passing and offloading ability is top notch.
So, what gives? Why has McCloskey been so lightly raced by Ireland?
For starters, there have been three stellar competitors ahead of him in the queue for quite some time.
Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose have accumulated 178 Test appearances between them. Neither of that stellar trio are slowing down either.
Aki will be 34 years of age in April but he is currently in the form of his life, backing up his stunning World Cup campaign with another tour de force in Marseilles. Henshaw, meanwhile, will be 31 in June while Ringrose has only just turned 29.
Three generational talents. If you were sitting down to devise a top five list of Irish centres in the professional era, those three lads would be keeping company with O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy. BOD would be at the summit but it would be a bar stool debate as to the pecking order behind the former Leinster, Ireland and Lions centre.
It’s been tough for McCloskey to break up the established order. Thing is, he had seemingly timed his run perfectly. When O’Driscoll and D’Arcy both called it a day, Joe Schmidt was left scratching around for Test-standard midfielders.
Indeed, the first-choice pairing at the 2015 World Cup was Henshaw and Jared Payne, two players who were doing their best work at full-back for Connacht and Ulster respectively at the time. It was a makeshift combo, to say the least.
Darren Cave, who had once bluntly stated that he felt his face didn’t fit into Schmidt’s plan, and Keith Earls, doing his best work on the wing for
Munster, were the back-up options at the tournament. The injury profile of all those mentioned above wouldn’t have inspired a lot of confidence either.
McCloskey would explode onto the scene the following season. Schmidt handed him a Test debut against England at Twickenham in 2016 – alongside Henshaw – in a new-look midfield.
The rookie Ulster man was solid on his maiden Test start. A few loose moments in possession, but solid nonetheless.
Schmidt didn’t seem convinced. McCloskey would feature only three times during his six-and-a-half year stint as Ireland head coach.
Autumn internationals, Six Nations and World Cup came and went without a call from the Kiwi. Aki, Henshaw and Ringrose had forged ahead. Chris Farrell, too.
Other provincial midfielders like Rory Scannell and Tom Farrell were summoned to Carton House. McCloskey was left twiddling his thumbs up in Belfast.
Andy Farrell liked the look of him, however. Things immediately picked up when the new Ireland boss arrived on the scene in late 2019. You’d wonder if Farrell saw a bit of himself in this out-off-avour outside back – a tough, no-nonsense midfielder who relishes the physical stuff. McCloskey wouldn’t look out of place in Wigan Warriors midfield, that’s for sure.
He has won four times as many caps on Farrell’s watch. He has been trusted on some big days, most notably the November victory against the Springboks in 2022.
Due reward for his perseverance. Because earlier that year he had almost called it quits after years on the international periphery.
‘That tour when I didn’t get picked to go to New Zealand (in 2022), I remember a phone call with Faz where I nearly said I was going to call it a day,’ McCloskey revealed recently.
‘I’m not saying he talked me out of it, I probably talked myself out of it as we were chatting. It wasn’t an angry conversation, it was just a chat.
‘I ended up going on that tour, played the Maoris, played well, ended up starting six in a row after that, winning a Six Nations, going to the World Cup. It’s amazing how quickly things change.’
Despite his apparent lack of versatility, Farrell found a space for McCloskey in his 33-man squad for last year’s World Cup as a fourth specialist midfielder alongside Aki, Ringrose and Henshaw. McCloskey repaid the gaffer’s faith with a big performance off the bench in the pool win against the Scots.
At 31, he will be feeling he needs to make all these opportunities count.
In truth, McCloskey knows that he is still seen as something of a stopgap option with Ireland. It’s pretty much the same story against the Azzurri this afternoon. Aki and Ringrose are resting up for Wales.
All this hard-running No12 can do is keeping forcing the issue. He should get plenty of opportunities to punch holes in this Italian defence. Farrell has gone for the raw power option across the board today and McCloskey should revel in it.
Is he destined to play second fiddle in the years ahead or can he force Farrell’s hand? McCloskey will have to make his own luck.