AT THE SAME time Stuart McCloskey was experiencing the joy and excitement of realising that he had made Ireland’s World Cup squad, he had a front-row view of the crushing disappointment one of his friends had to deal with after missing out.
McCloskey was rooming with Ulster team-mate Jacob Stockdale in Biarritz last week when Ireland boss Andy Farrell told the wing and a few others in the wider squad that they hadn’t made the final cut for the World Cup.
31-year-old McCloskey himself admitted during pre-season that he wasn’t sure whether Farrell would pick in him the 33-man squad, so he had to deal with feelings of uncertainty.
So he’d have been entitled to celebrate making the group, but seeing Stockdale’s dejection tempered any feelings of ecstasy.
“It was strange, it was sort of mixed,” said McCloskey yesterday in Tours, where Ireland have their World Cup base.
“It’s hard to be very upbeat and positive when you’re feeling bad for Jacob not going when he was rooming with me for the whole week. It was mixed but it’s been a great pre-season and I’m happy to be here.”
McCloskey didn’t actually get directly told by Farrell that he was in. Instead, he realised when others had been told they weren’t going to the World Cup.
“We sort of found out through bad news for other guys, the guys who heard they weren’t going. It’s a process of deduction that there’s only 33 left in Biarritz, that sort of thing,” said McCloskey.
“I was obviously ecstatic to get the nod but we also had that game against Samoa coming up, it was before the Samoa game, so it was just concentrating on that and it sort of took my mind off it.
“Then the few days we were home, it was nice to soak it in, see the family for a few days before we’re hopefully away for a whack of time.”
Now that McCloskey is in France with Ireland, it’s sinking in a little more. He’ll hope for another chance to impress against Romania next Saturday in Bordeaux, having delivered largely excellent performances for Ireland over the last year.
There were times in the past when it looked like McCloskey wouldn’t play for Ireland again, never mind make a World Cup. When he missed out on the tour of New Zealand last summer, he felt that might be the end of his Irish career.
Instead, he delivered a huge international season in 2022/23 and earned his World Cup spot.
“It’s brilliant,” said McCloskey. “I suppose it’s something I didn’t think I’d be able to do a couple of years ago but the last few years have been brilliant for me.
“It will probably hit home more on Monday when we get into our proper match week schedule. We’ll do the walkthroughs on Monday and get a fair idea of what the team is.
“Everyone is gearing towards that first game against Romania. Everyone is looking forward to getting started.”