OVER THE LAST year Stuart McCloskey has enjoyed his best spell at international level, playing his way back into Andy Farrell’s team before earning his spot in Ireland’s World Cup squad.
It had felt a long time coming for a player who considered retiring from international rugby during his long wait for a proper run in the team – McCloskey has played nine times for Ireland in the last 12 months, having clocked up just six appearances between 2016 and 2021.
The man himself never doubted his ability to perform at the highest level, but he’s enjoyed finally getting a chance to show what he can offer for Ireland.
“I think in general I’ve always been a fairly confident player, but it’s nice to have that accomplishment behind you,” McCloskey says.
“I feel like I’ve proved a lot of people wrong in the last 18 months or so, achieved some stuff I had set out to do, and maybe it took me a few more years than I thought it would, but I finally got there.”
After featuring once for Ireland at the World Cup – playing 57 minutes off the bench in the pool stage thrashing of Scotland – the 31-year-old is now settling back into life at Ulster.
McCloskey has put in two 80-minute performances in the URC since returning from France and is optimistic about Ulster’s prospects after the disappointment of last season. Ulster finished second in the URC table but fell to a bitterly disappointing quarter-final defeat at home to Connacht, while in Europe the province lost three of their four pool games but still squeezed into the knockout rounds, losing 30-15 away to Leinster in the round of 16 as their long wait for a trophy rolled into a 17th year.
“We obviously mention we want to win (trophies) but I don’t think it’s something you want to highlight too much,” McCloskey explains.
I think everybody who’s been at Ulster long enough knows that’s an issue. We should be winning things, and we’ve had a couple of good opportunities over the last couple of years, but just haven’t converted them.
“We’re trying to get to a place where we can win something this year, be it getting through the group in Europe or getting into the quarters of the URC and then from there hopefully we’ve learned enough over the last four or five years – or in my case 10 years – to hopefully push on and win something.
“I thought we were very close two years ago. I thought we maybe took a step backwards last year, in terms of we finished second in the league but we didn’t really have any momentum going towards the end of the year. Hopefully we make a step forward in the way we want to play this year and be a bit more aggressive, a bit more going out to win games, rather than just trying to scrape over the line I felt last year.”
That step forward involves getting Ulster’s highly talented backline more involved. Young talents such as Nathan Doak and Jake Flannery continue to impress while players like Jacob Stockdale, Robert Balaoucoune and Will Addison all have the ability to be game-changers for Ulster but have struggled for fitness over recent seasons.
Stockdale showed glimpses of the form that made him an Ireland regular on his return from a long-term injury last year and McCloskey feels the winger can be a point of difference for Ulster this season.
“I think with the likes of him and Rob Baloucoune on the wings you’ve got two guys who can score you tries from anywhere. That’s what you want in a winger. Both good in the air, both tall, can score you a try from 60 metres, which is what you need, you need someone to break you a game like that.
It would be great to have Jacob back and finding his best form because when he’s at his best form he’s probably one of the top three wingers, especially left wingers, in the world.”
Having those players fit throughout the year will be key for Ulster this season as the province look to evolve their attacking game.
Dan McFarland’s side are about to head into a testing run of fixtures – hosting Edinburgh in Belfast this weekend before Champions Cup games against Bath (away) and Racing (home) leading into the Christmas URC clashes with Connacht (home) and Leinster (away).
“I know the weather hasn’t really played ball for us the last couple of weeks, but yeah, we’re trying to move it a bit more, trying not to (just) be the maul/box-kick, trying to mix it up and try create a linebreak before we look to kick.
“We’re not going to be playing silly stuff but I think you’ll see us trying to run it out a bit more and use our backs. I think that was part of the problem last year, guys were saying why were our backs out of form, but they just weren’t getting enough touches of the ball with just the way we were playing.
“I enjoy it. I want to move the ball, as much as people sometimes think I’m just a big (physical) centre, I love throwing passes, I love getting the ball to the edge, I love seeing those guys getting the ball more.
“The more they touch the ball, the less I’ll have to carry and I’ll probably end up playing a few more years out of it, so it’s nice getting other guys touching the ball.”
