Stockdale delight as special time ends on high
NOVEMBER couldn’t really have gone much better for Jacob Stockdale. His two-try heroics in last night’s 28-19 win over Argentina brought his international tally up to four tries in just four caps, with the explosive Ulster star putting in a man-of-thematch performance that will give Joe Schmidt plenty of food for thought.
Having come into this November series as one of a number of fringe players looking to make an impression ahead of the Six Nations, the 21-year-old has managed to firmly establish himself as a real contender for a starting role in the hugely competitive wing positions.
‘It was pretty special for me,’ he told RTÉ. ‘You know, Joe kinda challenged me throughout the week to really get stuck into the game from the start and I felt like I did that, so I was pretty happy.
‘It’s been a phenomenal experience (this month). Being surrounded by quality players here really makes it a lot more enjoyable and to get three big wins against big nations has been really enjoyable.’
Ireland captain Rory Best was understandably delighted for his Ulster teammate, and expressed his belief that there is still plenty more to come from Schmidt’s latest star.
‘He’s doing brilliant and you can see he’s trying to improve every time he takes to the training field, and it’s paying off in games,’ said Best.
‘Being surrounded by the calibre of players that he has here, he’s really flourishing and he’s really stepping up, and the big challenge for him now is people are going to know a bit more about him, so to see if he can still keep pushing on which I know with the work ethic he has, he will.’
While Ireland’s defensive game slacked off in the second-half against the stubborn Pumas, Best believes the squad will be pleased with three wins.
‘Overall I think we’ll be happy with it, it’s three wins from three and obviously that’s what we wanted to achieve. There
are elements that we’ll improve on but look, I think when you beat the quality of opposition that we have in the autumn, it’s a nice stepping stone for us and we know that it will mean nothing come February, but it gives us something to build on,’ he said.
‘We always talked about that spine of the team that needed to be there, and we’re getting that and we’re blooding young players, guys like Chris Farrell and Adam Byrne didn’t look out of place at all out there, which is really reassuring for us and for Irish rugby.’