HE MIGHT HAVE known really, as just when Jacob Stockdale thought things were going well for him again his hamstring gave way when playing for Ireland against Fiji last November.
“It was kind of like ‘flip, not again,’” said the 28-year-old winger who has had his fair share of injury issues in recent times, “but it’s part of the sport.”
“I knew (the moment it happened) I’d be out for a few weeks anyway. There are some when you’re standing and going ‘that’s a bit sore’ and then there are some when you feel them ping and that was one where I felt it ping.
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“I remember the time I felt it go, and I tried to take another step, and I was like ‘no, I’m going to try and get rid of this ball’ and actually managed to get a pretty good offload away,” he recalls.
That was it until last week when Stockdale got to road-test how successful his rehab had gone in a highly competitive friendly loss to Queensland Reds when he scored and was notably bashed about but came through unscathed.
“It can be difficult to jump straight back into the form you were in before but when I was out there last weekend (against the Reds), I felt like I hadn’t been away which is good and as good a comeback as you could possibly hope for even though the lungs were burning, I was feeling confident.”
It was certainly an upbeat outcome for Ulster to have Stockdale back again and Richie Murphy also had both Stuart McCloskey (hamstring) and long-term absentee James Hume get pitch time against the Super Rugby visitors ahead of Saturday’s URC return at Benetton Rugby, a fixture which comes three weekends after the province’s humiliating home loss to Zebre.
As Stockdale admitted: “When you’re getting to this stage of the season it’s important to just remember the context of where you are in the table and literally every point matters for us at this point.
“Traditionally this time of year is a good time to get Benetton as a lot of their guys are away with the Italian squad but that being said they still have a lot of talented players left behind and like us they’ll probably get a few back from the Italy squad.
“This is a huge game for us and it’s really important we go over and perform well.”
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'This is a huge game for us' - Jacob Stockdale says Ulster must deliver against Benetton
HE MIGHT HAVE known really, as just when Jacob Stockdale thought things were going well for him again his hamstring gave way when playing for Ireland against Fiji last November.
“It was kind of like ‘flip, not again,’” said the 28-year-old winger who has had his fair share of injury issues in recent times, “but it’s part of the sport.”
“I knew (the moment it happened) I’d be out for a few weeks anyway. There are some when you’re standing and going ‘that’s a bit sore’ and then there are some when you feel them ping and that was one where I felt it ping.
“I remember the time I felt it go, and I tried to take another step, and I was like ‘no, I’m going to try and get rid of this ball’ and actually managed to get a pretty good offload away,” he recalls.
That was it until last week when Stockdale got to road-test how successful his rehab had gone in a highly competitive friendly loss to Queensland Reds when he scored and was notably bashed about but came through unscathed.
“It can be difficult to jump straight back into the form you were in before but when I was out there last weekend (against the Reds), I felt like I hadn’t been away which is good and as good a comeback as you could possibly hope for even though the lungs were burning, I was feeling confident.”
It was certainly an upbeat outcome for Ulster to have Stockdale back again and Richie Murphy also had both Stuart McCloskey (hamstring) and long-term absentee James Hume get pitch time against the Super Rugby visitors ahead of Saturday’s URC return at Benetton Rugby, a fixture which comes three weekends after the province’s humiliating home loss to Zebre.
As Stockdale admitted: “When you’re getting to this stage of the season it’s important to just remember the context of where you are in the table and literally every point matters for us at this point.
“Traditionally this time of year is a good time to get Benetton as a lot of their guys are away with the Italian squad but that being said they still have a lot of talented players left behind and like us they’ll probably get a few back from the Italy squad.
“This is a huge game for us and it’s really important we go over and perform well.”
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