Experienced Stuart McCloskey hoping taking senior role on summer tour can help him push on to 2027 World Cup
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
6 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Stuart McCloskey recalls Interpro memory he hopes Ireland interim boss Paul O'Connell doesn't remember
STUART McCloskey is bidding to ensure his Ireland recall amounts to more than reminding Paul O'Connell how he once got one over him. The Ulster centre has not featured in any of Ireland's last 13 Tests but will add to his 19 caps this month with Garry Ringrose and 3 The Ulster centre is in line to add to his 19 Ireland appearances against Georgia 3 McCloskey was a part of the weakened Ulster team which shocked Munster back in 2014 3 The Ireland interim-boss would not look back fondly on that match against McCloskey With He is also the only member of the travelling party which arrived in Tbilisi yesterday ahead of Saturday's Test against Georgia who played against 45-year-old He recalled: 'I was in one Ireland training camp with him. I think I'm the only one in the squad to have played a game against him as well. We won down at Thomond that day for Ulster. "Ulster sent down the biggest B team of all time because it was a dead rubber at the end of the season and Munster had their best team out, they were trying to get second. Read more on Irish sport 'Michael Heaney scored a try. James McKinney was at 10. Good story because the coach said, 'Ah, you'll play more next season' to him and he was actually leaving that summer. 'I won't say who the coach was but you can figure that out.' It was Mark Anscombe, with McCloskey hoping O'Connell's memory is as good as his own. He said: 'I'll not mention that to him, I'm trying to get picked, but I like to think he knows it.' Most read in Rugby Union A year earlier, McCloskey was in Georgia as part of an Emerging Ireland team which competed in the Tbilisi Cup. He said: 'I remember it was the time the animals escaped from the zoo.' 'Magical few days' - Inside Peter O'Mahony's fun-filled Disneyland holiday despite 'bananas crowds' The IRFU press officer quickly quipped that it was not a metaphor. That actual zoo escape saw a penguin swim to the Azerbaijan border. McCloskey's journey has not been quite as dramatic — but neither has it been straightforward. He made his Six Nations debut against England in 2016 but did not appear in the tournament again until seven years later. In the meantime, he won only five caps, all against tier-two nations. Two of them came four years ago, during the last Lions tour, so he knows how they can be used as a launchpad. He said: 'I still think I've got a bit of rugby to go in my career. 'So this Lions period the last time, when we played America and Japan, sort of springboarded me on to get a lot more caps and be a lot more involved. I think I've been involved in two Six Nations wins in that time and a World Cup. 'Hopefully I'll put a good foot forward for any games coming up over the next few years and keep my head around the place and push into the next World Cup. 'I don't think I'm doing a lot wrong. It's just there's four very good centres, two of them are away and you could argue Robbie would've been away as well if he wasn't injured, so I don't think I'm too far off it.'
Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Experienced Stuart McCloskey hoping taking senior role on summer tour can help him push on to 2027 World Cup
Stuart McCloskey has a few more grey hairs since winning the Tbilisi Cup in 2015 on an Emerging Ireland side that included Andrew Conway, Finlay Bealham and Rob Herring.
Irish Times
16 hours ago
- Irish Times
No animals were harmed in the making of this interview with Stuart McCloskey
Stu McCloskey's patter ensures that the interview is punctuated with laughter. A player investing a little personality and humour into this particular set-piece environment is all too rare and therefore to be celebrated. At 32-years-old the Bangor native doesn't need to be fearful of saying the wrong thing. That's a door he closed long ago when negotiating a rite of passage from a wide-eyed tyro to one of Ulster 's most enduring and consistently excellent performers, with 19 Ireland caps to his name. He's the senior figure in the 33-man Ireland squad for the upcoming Tests against Georgia and Portugal, a tag that would have belonged to Finlay Bealham before the Connacht prop's call-up to the Lions tour . McCloskey is mock resentful at being cast as Methuselah, but he can't escape the historical references. He once played in and won the Tbilisi Cup, 10 years ago in the Georgian capital, a tournament that included the host nation, Emerging Ireland, Emerging Italy and Uruguay. READ MORE His abiding memory? 'I remember the zoo. It was the time the animals escaped from the zoo.' Tbilisi was hit by a landslide and flooding that destroyed parts of the city. Half of the zoo's inhabitants were killed and several surviving inhabitants including a hippopotamus, big cats, bears, wolves and hyenas escaped their confinement and took to the streets. The police were forced to shoot some, others were recaptured, the hippo made its way to a flooded Heroes' Square, while an African penguin was found at the Red Bridge border crossing with Azerbaijan, 60km south of Tbilisi. Stuart McCloskey has tended to make his mark whenever he has played for Ireland. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho Saturday's game is in a much bigger stadium than the one in which McCloskey played in 2015, but he recalls 'a nice hotel and the architecture in the squares more so than the games themselves'. 'I was pretty naive to what professional rugby was 10 years ago, didn't really know what I was up to, but a few years under the belt, a few more grey hairs and I think I know what I'm about these days.' There's one other story that dates McCloskey. To the best of his knowledge, he is the only one in the squad who has played against the interim head coach Paul O'Connell . The centre sets the scene. 'Ulster sent down the biggest B team of all time, because it was dead rubber at the end of the season. Munster had their best team out. 'I remember it very well, actually. I think Michael Heaney scored a try. They were trying to get to second, I think. We were fourth, and couldn't go up or down. It was back in the Pro 12 days. We got the win. I think it was my fourth cap.' So, has he dropped that into the conversation with his coach? McCloskey smiled: 'No, but I'd like to think that he knows. No, as a player [O'Connell] was incredibly intimidating. We all were terrified of him. I think I was in one [Ireland] training camp with him. [As a coach] he has that intimidation factor, but I think he's very personable. 'He lets the young guys come out of their shells, not very different to what Faz [Andy Farrell] is like. I'm sure he's watched Faz over the last three or four years and learned a lot from that. [It's about] how does he put his own stamp on it, I suppose? There hasn't been a great deal of difference. 'He's probably seemed quite laid back to me, but I suppose being the oldest in the group, it's easy to feel a bit more laid back when you're 32 years of age, not 20.' McCloskey's most recent cap was against Fiji last November. Injuries fractured his playing time a little, but he did get back into Ireland training camp towards the end of the Six Nations. He's been largely very good when called upon in the course of his Test career, one that includes a strike-rate of a try every four matches. It's just that he's facing very stiff competition, two of whom, Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki, are on the Lions tour, while Robbie Henshaw, currently injured, is, like Aki, is a two-time Lions tourist. McCloskey said: 'I don't think I'm doing a lot wrong. I think when I played, it went well.' He paused for a moment when asked what areas he'd like to enhance in his game. 'Probably a bit more physicality in defence. I think I've got most things in attack. Overall, I don't think there's a lot in it. I think [if] a few decisions go my way I'm standing here with a few more caps.' Joking aside, he's content to be the elder statesman, his nature calm and laid back. That shouldn't be mistaken for a lack of desire. He, more than most, understands that a good summer can be harvested in November when the full squad comes back together. He'll be keen to do what he does best – go forward.
