AMID THE NOISE and colour which engulfed the Stade de France on Saturday night, the newest member of the extended Ireland touring party managed to catch some sleep despite being right at the heart of the celebrations.
Kasper McCloskey is less than two weeks old but he still made the trip over to be there on the night his dad, Stuart, made his World Cup debut.
“Yeah it was great, the timing worked out well,” McCloskey explained.
“I got home last Monday and my wife gave birth on the Tuesday. It worked out really well and then I was obviously back into the camp at the end of the week, and it was an unfortunate injury to get me in, but it’s been a brilliant week.”
The Ulster centre was an early first half substitute for the injured Mack Hansen, and as he soaked up the moment following Ireland’s 36-14 win, Kasper was in his arms.
“Yeah, he was fast asleep. I didn’t take him (over to France) so… he seemed alright, he’s only 10 or 11 days old, he seemed all good.
It was brilliant. I’d say you’ll look at those pictures in 20-odd years and it will be pretty cool.”
The 31-year-old has had to be patient for his chances with Ireland. Even when McCloskey has been in strong runs of form, the 12 shirt has been hard to prize from Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki.
McCloskey made his Ireland debut in 2016 but has won the majority of his 15 caps during Andy Farrell’s time in charge. On the back of an excellent 2022, he played his way into the World Cup squad and an injury to Robbie Henshaw opened the door for McCloskey to make the Ireland bench after missing out in the wins against Romania, Tonga and South Africa.
“Yeah I was itching for an opportunity,” he continued.
“But the way this team is, the guys in the positions are so good and, as soon as one of us gets in, unless there’s an injury, it seems that person keeps the position.
“I was happy just to work away in the shadows and hope for an opportunity more than anything. It’s always shown for us in the last two or three years when I’ve been involved that someone has always got injured, whether it was me during the Six Nations or Garry (Ringrose) during the Six Nations, there are always opportunities for guys so you have to stay on your game.”
With Ireland awaiting an update on Henshaw’s injury, McCloskey’s impressive showing against Scotland leaves him well placed to feature next Saturday against New Zealand.
It would be another milestone moment for a player who at one point, feared his days as an international player were over.
“It was frustrating and it wasn’t (to play more). I always look back to what it was before last summer and I wasn’t involved at all and I was thinking about calling it a day with Ireland stuff and I came back in, played a load of games and finally became a part of the team I thought. So it’s nice, my goal was to get to a World Cup and I made that, and whatever happens from now I’m fine with it.
“I know if you put me on the field I will perform well but, if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. I’m not going to sit in the shadows and be angry about it.”