Stockdale finds redemption after Paris difficulties
SIX caps, six tries – Jacob Stockdale has made quite the start to his international career. After bagging two tries in yesterday’s mauling of Italy, Joe Schmidt’s decision to keep faith in the Ulster winger was justified following an uncharacteristically tame display on his first Six Nations start against France last weekend.
Having failed to make much of an impression in Paris, Stockdale found himself the centre of team selection debates ahead of the visit of Italy, his below-par performance not helped by a difficult few weeks with Ulster where the 21-year-old’s defensive abilities came into question.
Therefore, after being handed another chance to impress in what was always going to be a more comfortable afternoon against the Italians, the winger was understandably grateful that Schmidt allowed him the opportunity to redeem himself.
‘To be honest, I try not to read or think about those things too much,’ he said of the negative reviews after France. ‘It’s about doling the same thing every week and preparing for the game as best I can.
‘It’s a big confidence booster [to get selected again]. The only way that you get better at playing international rugby is by playing international rugby, so for him to put that faith in me has been really great.’
Stockdale repaid that faith with two tries in the second half, the second of which was a lungbursting sprint following an intercept from well inside his own half, ignoring the support run of Keith Earls and instead burning Italy’s Jayden Hayward for speed on the outside.
‘I didn’t realise he [Earls] was there until the replay. I was knackered and just gunning it as hard as I could to the line. He said he was happy enough for me to take it on anyway because he was knackered as well.’
After lasting the full 80 minutes while Schmidt made use of his bench, Stockdale looks set to hang on to his green jersey for the February 24 visit of Wales.
However, with Warren Gatland’s side certain to present a more potent threat than Conor O’Shea’s timid Italians, Stockdale will need to iron out some persistent flaws in his game.
For all the good in his performance yesterday, which included beating six defenders over 15 runs that saw him cover 125 meters, Stockdale conceded four turnovers and at one stage, was on the receiving end of some angry words from Johnny Sexton after being out of position for a quick tap penalty.
‘I’d say the biggest learning has been how tough it is,’ he continued. ‘The last ten minutes, my lungs were really starting to go. You don’t understand how difficult it is until you’ve played in it. You learn things with every game you play, and there will be things that I take away from this that I have to work on.
‘We put a big focus on our defence as a team and Andy Farrell puts a real big onus on us as wingers to kind of lead our defensive line.
‘It’s something that is a real big part of Joe’s game, and something that I’m trying to make a big part of mine. So there will be a lot of work-ons.’ It is not Stockdale who will look back with concern at some aspects of his game, with the concession of those three second-half Italian tries a worrying sign that concentration levels dipped. A repeat against Wales would no doubt have a more detrimental outcome.
‘We knew we had to be on top of our game to score points against them, because if you’re sloppy and you let them into the game, they can be a really tough team to break down.
‘We were really happy with how we did that in the first half, got four tries going into the break. Maybe there was a drop off in the second half which was a bit disappointing for us.
‘We’ve to make sure we don’t mentally tap out for a single phase of that game. Italy punished us when we did. Wales will probably punish us even better than that [if it happens again].
Still, these are concerns for a different day, and for the time being, Stockdale is happy to enjoy his rise in the international ranks. It was only in June that he made his international debut, and now he finds himself a starter in the Six Nations.
‘Look, playing in Dublin is incredible. That was the third time that I’ve done it now, and the atmosphere here is phenomenal. I haven’t really experienced anything like that before, and I really, really enjoyed it.
‘To a certain extent, I was frustrated I didn’t get a score earlier on, but there were a lot of things that went right for me. I was happy with my game and I had a lot of involvements.
‘You just have to take the opportunities when they come to you and I felt I did that in the second half.’