After
ing hard and kick on.”
While understanding he is not quite the finished article just yet, the green number 11 jersey looks like it is his to lose between now and the 2019 World Cup, but you won’t see the Ulster Academy product thinking as such.
Indeed, with Schmidt expected to wrap many of his regulars in cotton wool for the visit of Fiji on Saturday, Stockdale is one that will be putting his hand up for duty.
“Oh yeah, I’d love to (play),” he said.
“I just want to play as much rugby as I can now and play as many games as a I can, but that’s down to Joe and there’s obviously a lot of competition and there are guys who deserve that opportunity as well.
“So if I get to play then brilliant, and if I don’t then I’ll keep working and hopefully I’ll get in against Argentina.”
If everything is going Stockdale’s way right now, the same cannot be said for Springboks coach Allister Coetzee.
After some of the worst results in the side’s history over the last 18 months, and Munster’s Rassie Erasmus soon to come home, Coetzee appears to be living on borrowed time.
“You’re always under pressure at Test level,” he said afterwards.
“Our inconsistency for me is something I’d like to see improve in a big way. The Jekyll and Hyde element, at times we play well.
“I cannot see anything like this changing in a short space of time.
“It’s difficult to explain, no positives from our side to be honest.
“It’s a disappointing defeat, as a group we take full responsibility, we let ourselves down and our support back home.
“We just have to fight our way back from this one.
“I have to give credit to Ireland, they played tactically very, very well.”