Jacob Stockdale: Absolutely Flying

Stockdale’s back!

The 35-times-capped Ireland wing/fullback is now finally set to get back onto the pitch ahead of the new 2022/23 season, after nearly a year out injured.

Stockdale last played in September 2021 and has been side-lined since due to an ankle injury.

Ulster Assistant Coach Dan Soper believes the province are getting back a physically and mentally stronger Jacob Stockdale than the one that they last saw at the start of the 2021/22 season.

“When you’re a rugby player, you want to play, and unfortunately for Jacob it’s been 12 months (out). And it’s been tough for him as when he first got injured it was like a couple of weeks and then a few more and then he misses 12 months,” said the assistant coach.

“That’s psychologically hard for someone like Jacob when he’s in the prime of his career and that’s pretty tough for him to take. But he’s had a lot go on in his life outside rugby in those 12 months (Stockdale became a father last month).

“I think he looks in the best shape he’s been in, in the four or five years I’ve been here. Physically he’s in a great place and mentally he also feels really good about getting started and we’re excited to have a player of his quality back.”

"Jacob is absolutely flying," confirmed Soper.

"He has had quite the 12 months since he last played for Ulster, getting married and becoming a dad.

"He's got a real focus about his rugby and he's busting to get started and I think everybody can look forward to seeing Jacob get back out there doing Jacob things."

‘Jacob things…’

You could be forgiven for forgetting what ‘Jacob things’ are, given the length of time it has been since we have seen him at his best in an Ulster or Ireland jersey.

Indeed, Stockdale went through a perceived dip in form before his injury, struggling to recreate the outstanding performances which saw him labelled one of the most potent attacking threats in world rugby in his prime.

Stockdale is one of very few players who have an innate star quality otherwise known as the ‘x-factor’ or, as the French would say, ‘I don’t know what’. It’s this indefinable characteristic which sets top players such as Jacob apart from other mere mortals.

It goes without saying that Stockdale has physical attributes and skill-levels shared by few others. Speed, guile, opportunism and strength are qualities which once made the Ulster winger one of the deadliest finishers in world rugby.

However, when Stockdale is at his best, it is his uninhibited style and pure enjoyment of the game – his joie de vivre – which have catapulted him to stardom and earned the admiration of rugby fans world-wide.

Ulster have no shortage of attacking talent in the back-three. Indeed, it is the likes of the electric trio of Lowry, Baloucoune and McIlroy that made Stockdale wonder out loud ‘…to a certain extent, you're scared of being forgotten about’, after his recent protracted spell on the side-lines.

Confidence Player

Stockdale is a confidence player, and one passage of play in particular encapsulates Stockdale’s indefinable ‘otherness’ when he is riding high on self-belief. Against the All Blacks in Dublin, Stockdale attempted an impudent chip over the head of Kieran Reid. Unfortunately for Stockdale, Read charged it down. Maybe it was the collective intake of breath from the crowd at the Aviva that dislodged the ball from Read’s grasp or maybe the rugby gods were looking after Stockdale that day. Whatever the reason, Read bungled the ball and Stockdale and Ireland were let off the hook.

The camera panned to Stockdale. Most players would have looked sheepish, had their head in their hands or would be muttering expletives to themselves. Stockdale had a wry smile on his face and apologetically held up his hand to his team-mates like he had just missed a sitter in a friendly game of 5 a side.

It is a truism that fortune favours the brave. To win, the best players will take calculated risks. In the upper echelons of modern rugby, defences are so well drilled they become almost inpenetrable by conventional means. Teams therefore require players to have the courage to put their necks on the line and create try scoring opportunities.

Indeed, moments later, in a supreme display of testicular fortitude, Stockdale received the ball from a well-rehearsed backs move and proceeded to arc the ball over the onrushing All-Blacks defence. This time, however, Stockdale gathered the kick and powered over the line to help secure a historic victory for Ireland.

That is what Stockdale is capable of at his best.

As with many young players who experience such a meteoric rise, the pressure and attritional nature of modern rugby makes it difficult to maintain that momentum. It sounds strange, but perhaps Stockdale’s enforced absence is the best thing that could have happened to sustain his playing career, reinvigorating his passion for the game and enhancing competition in the squad with likes of Ethan McIlroy. McIlroy has enjoyed considerable playing time last season and will undoubtedly play a crucial role for Ulster in the season ahead and, along with others, provides McFarland the option to rotate the glut of talent in the back-three.

Last season, Ulster’s starting 15 were capable of beating anyone on their day. Maybe it is the return of Stockdale, Addison, as well as the 6 new signings that will provide the quality depth required to take them to the next level?

Ireland calling?

Competition for places in Ireland’s back three is very strong now but there’s no doubt that national team head coach Andy Farrell will be tracking Stockdale’s progress with interest.

Stockdale’s most recent Ireland cap came in August 2021 against Japan. A strong start to the season could turn the heads of Ireland selectors who know what he is capable of at his best.

Stockdale’s return has coincided with the news that Ireland will be sending an Emerging team to South Africa at the end of this month for three games against Currie Cup opposition in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and it wouldn’t be overly surprising to see him get a call-up so that Farrell (obviously a big fan of his) can ensure he’s up to scratch.

Commenting on the controversial tour, Dan Soper admits the timing is less than ideal, with a pivotal fixture against our provincial rivals Leinster on the same day as Emerging Ireland’s first fixture in South Africa.

“We’ll have to adapt. It is what it is. It’s something out of our control and we’ll adapt our selection to fit who we’ve got here. It’ll be full steam ahead, we’ll go hard. Some guys will get an opportunity to play for Ulster, while others will play for Emerging Ireland. It is what it is,” he says.

“We haven’t dwelled on it too much as it’s out of our control. We can only control what we can. I suppose it’s a double-edged sword, but you like to see your players get those opportunities.

“Would we have picked a different time? Yes, possibly, but we’ll just adapt and get on with things. We’re used to international players being unavailable at different times of the year and it’s the same for all the provinces, we’re going to be in the same boat. We’re going to get on with it.”

After Ulster’s bitterly disappointing finish last season, Ulster and Stockdale will not be lacking motivation this season.  Dan Soper is intent on kicking on and the addition of Stockdale and the probable return of Will Addison will certainly help that cause.

“Last season is done. We’ve taken our learnings from it, and we’ll move on. We definitely have to learn from it in terms of how we played, what we did well and what we didn’t do so well using our most recent season and our most recent games, which is guiding us to what we need to get better at and what we’re improving for this season.”

"For a young man he's becoming one of the more experienced guys in the backs, and he's becoming something of a leader, particularly among the backfield guys.

"You just see him growing as a person with everything that's going on outside of rugby and that's starting to come through in and around our environment as well, and I think that will be a real benefit to him as a rugby player and I think we'll see a good version of Jacob Stockdale in the next few months."

Ulster will begin their competitive season at home to Connacht on 17 September without captain Iain Henderson and centre James Hume, both of whom underwent surgery during the summer having been forced to leave Ireland's successful tour of New Zealand early though injury.

Both players are back on the training pitch although have not yet been reintegrated into the main squad with Soper confirming neither would be available for the "early rounds" of the season.

"We'll have to adapt in that period, but I suppose what we've learned in the last two years through Covid and all that is you've got to be able to adapt to these things that get thrown up," said Soper.

"We were able to adapt in weeks where we lost a number of players two or three days before a game, so we'll know weeks leading in who we're going to be missing and we can plan for that and adapt.

"When one guy is out another guy gets an opportunity and that's the nature of professional rugby."

Indeed, Stockdale’s prolonged absence has helped accelerate the development of young talent at Ulster. Jacob now returns to the squad as an elder statesman, leader and, hopefully, the same Stockdale with the confidence and ‘x-factor’ required to take Ulster to the next level.