STAND & DELIVER

CJ ready for lift off again after his rise to stardom in an Ireland shirt took a bit of a dip

CJ STANDER says he’s ready to fly again after being stuck on the runway for too long.

The power and dynamism Stander brought to Ireland’s back row since his debut against Wales in February of last year earned him the Player of the Year award in 2016.

But those qualities noticeably dipped towards the end of last season, then on the Lions tour of New Zealand in the summer and into the start of this campaign.

An ankle injury suffered in Munster’s Champions Cup quarter-final win against Toulouse was to blame. Such is his influence, Stander played through the pain barrier.

It came at a personal cost though. In terms of where his game had been, Stander was left grounded.

But a word in his ear from Joe Schmidt prior to Ireland’s first Test of the season – last Saturday ’s 38-3 hammering of South Africa – has helped Stander back into flight mode.

The 26-year-old (below) said: “At the beginning of the year I felt I was trying maybe to concentrate on stuff that wasn’t in my control.

“Joe spoke to me before the game and gave a good analogy, he said I was like an aeroplane on the runway – I’m there but I’m not going up.

“So look, I won’t say I’m flying yet, I’m probably on the take-off.

“It was great for me to get the nod from him and to get the responsibility to go out on Saturday and perform.

“But I think also, it’s just getting back into the fold, just make sure you work hard towards that weekend. If you work hard in the week, you just go out on the weekend and play.

“It does give you that confidence.” Stander explained that he got a good break on his family farm in South Africa after the Lions tour, then on his return he suffered a few niggles.

But he also hinted that he’s now a marked man.

“It was just training-wise and the games we played, they’re all physical games where everyone was gunning for you,” he confessed.

He was certainly a marked man at Aviva Stadium last weekend when he came up against his own countrymen.

Stander was pretty pumped on against the Boks, winning one crucial breakdown penalty close to Ireland’s line and generally making his presence felt in a vocal manner.

However he maintains there was no a d d e d mot iv a t i o n from what amounted to a nightmare return home in the summer of 2016, when he was red-carded in the first Test against the Springboks.

“I tried to get that out of my head,” he said.

“I just felt I had a slow start to the season so I just wanted to get back in and perform well in the jersey again, so that was my motivation, nothing else outside of that.

“I try to be vocal every game. Yeah, look, I know most of them so I got a bit of extra treatment.

“I understand the language so it makes easier to understand if it’s directed towards me.

“It was a good game, no niggles really. I think both teams got down to their jobs and if you play for this team, play for Joe, you let that white noise slide and just concentrate on your job.

“I feel I didn’t get the opportunity in South Africa a year ago because we didn’t win there and the one time we won I went off the pitch early.

“There were none of those feelings so it’s been a good week, a good Saturday evening, I really enjoyed it.”

LEARNING HIS CORN CJ Stander is keen to find the form which won him a player of the year gong