Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Jacob Stockdale: 'That was a turning point, that really got to me'

Jacob Stockdale during an Ireland training session in Portugal this past week (Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Jacob Stockdale was full of beans when he sat down the other week in person with RugbyPass, delighted with the early-season form he had shown with Ulster and confident it could carry over into the four-game November schedule that Ireland have. Test selection would be quite the comeback as Stockdale’s name has been absent from the Andy Farrell team sheet for quite some time.

ADVERTISEMENT

While the world No1-ranked Irish have been busy winning back-to-back Guinness Six Nations titles and chalking up seminal tour victories, the winger has featured in just two of his country’s last 35 matches, August 2023 games against Italy and Samoa before he was told he wasn’t selected for the Rugby World Cup.

Rejection would have buckled him when a younger buck. He had initially ridden the crest of the wave and scored international tries for fun, only to then frustratingly slip down the pecking order in 2021. Exclusion drove him daft and it needed the lay-off that came with a January 2022 ankle operation for him to finally realise he was too caught up by it all.

Video Spacer

Which Northern team will stop New Zealand? | The Breakdown

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 7:54
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 7:54
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    Which Northern team will stop New Zealand? | The Breakdown

    The Breakdown discusses which match will be the toughest for the All Blacks on their upcoming Northern Tour. Having already beaten Japan (since filming this) they face England, Ireland, France, and Italy.

    Nearly three years later, he is mentally in a very different place when it comes to his rugby. “Before I had kids, rugby was everything,” he explained to RugbyPass at a rendezvous in Cardiff before hooking up this past week with the Ireland squad in Portugal ahead of an Autumn Nations Series that begins in Dublin with next Friday’s blockbuster clash with the All Blacks.

    “All I cared about was being successful and famous and all this, and since having kids that is not anywhere near as important to me anymore. What’s important to me now is building a safe and secure home life for the two girls and my wife and making sure they are proud of me. Whenever you look at it from that point of view you realise, ‘Do you know what? Rugby is just a sport. Nobody’s died, nobody’s life is being changed significantly if we win, lose or draw’.

    Head-to-Head

    Last 5 Meetings

    Wins
    2
    Draws
    0
    Wins
    3
    Average Points scored
    22
    25
    First try wins
    60%
    Home team wins
    20%

    “Having that perspective is important for me. I still absolutely care whether we win, lose or draw but yeah, the most important thing to me now is my family and making them proud. During my injury, that was a real turning point for me where the frustration of not playing and seeing the lads in the position that I had been in before and seeing them really kick on, that really got to me.

    “The frustration of not being able to play was really getting to me and through the course of that injury, it was just acceptance that not everything is going to go your way all the time. You’re going to have setbacks, you’re going to have disappointments. If you put 100 per cent of the weight of your care into rugby, you’re going to be disappointed. You need to find something else that is more important than that.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “My wife is a great sounding board. Very good at being completely honest with me. Especially if she thinks I’m being a bit of an ass,” he chuckled. “You need people in your life that are going to be honest with you no matter what and Hannah is certainly that, she is brilliant.

    “With family, they’d be pretty open in talking about it and say they knew if I played badly or if we lost to know not to talk to me, they’d know not to contact me for 24 hours after a game. But you can’t do that when you have kids.

    “You get home and you’re just daddy as soon as you walk through the door and all they want to do is play with their toys and you have to pretend to be the doctor or the dentist or whatever it is. That was a big learning curve for me, just parking it and making the decision when you walk through the door that you are just going to be daddy, you’re not going to be the rugby player.”

    This altered perspective has been rejuvenating. “I’m loving my rugby at the moment,” he continued with a smile. “It’s funny. Like, sport in general, it feels like the easier thing when it is going well and it feels like the hardest thing ever when you are struggling. Fortunately, right now, I feel like I am in a good vein of form, scoring tries and playing well. I am enjoying it and appreciate it.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    One thing that isn’t as appreciated by Stockdale is how he is viewed by a cohort of Irish rugby fans. Rather than just be seen as a 28-year-old loving life and enjoying being back in exciting form, their reference point continues to be 2018.

    That was the Grand Slam-winning year where he set a Six Nations try record – seven – and chipped in with the killer score that helped Ireland to a first home win over New Zealand. He gets why fans like recalling this vintage time; he just wishes it didn’t colour their 2024 assessment of him.

    “Yeah, there is a degree of frustration with that around me. On one hand, it was a brilliant way to start your international career and it was an amazing year. Similarly, it feels like when I do something well now it’s ‘Oh, is 2018 Jacob back?’

    “There is a degree of frustration for that for me in the sense that I am the player that I am now. 2018 was great. Probably the New Zealand try was the standout for me, a pretty special moment, but they are just memories and I want to focus on where I am now and the player and person that I am now.

    “I don’t begrudge people for that. Like, I’m glad I was able to entertain people in the way that I did and make people enjoy watching Irish rugby and be successful, but at the same time I’m excited with what I am doing now and I don’t really feel talking about what I did six years ago really matters anymore if that makes sense.

    “I understand why people want to talk about it. It’s okay, it’s not that I’m going to get angry at anybody or anything like that, but just for me personally there is a degree of frustration. It was great but it is in the past.”

    What’s so great then about Stockdale 2024 that people should be focusing on? “I have a better all-round game. I have still got the attacking ability, being able to do stuff with the ball well like I was able to do back then but my ability in the air has grown, my kicking has got better and my defensive game has got better.

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Jacob Stockdale (@stockdalejacob)

    “That is reflective as well of how the game has evolved over the last seven, eight years. Rugby players in general have got a lot better. You see guys coming into the academies at 18, 19 and their skill sets are 10 times what mine were at that age.

    “You see these young guys come in and they get it, they already understand rugby inside out, they understand what pictures to look for in attack, what to look for in defensive. I didn’t have any of that understanding when I was 18 or 19. We have all got better across the board as rugby players and I can see my skill set has improved as well with that.

    “I have started to focus on really working hard on things that I am good at, things that I know can set me apart in the game as opposed to other players. In years gone by, I have worried about trying to do everything and really be the best overall player, have the perfect kicking game, the perfect running game, the perfect defence and perfect in the air.

    “Sometimes you have to maybe accept, ‘Do you know what? I’m never going to be a player that makes perfect reads and flies out of the back in defence and smashes lads and knocks them behind the gain line’. No. But I can still be a player that defends well and is solid, but I know I am a player that can make stuff happen in attack. I can score tries and make linebreaks and stuff, so really focusing on those strong parts of my game and practicing them as much as I can has been really beneficial for me.”

    That emphasis has the attention of Ireland boss Farrell, who picked Stockdale in eight of his first nine matches in charge in 2020, seven as a starter. He brought Stockdale to South Africa last July for the drawn Test series. There was no match day involvement on that trip but there is a genuine confidence that caps can now be earned across a November featuring fixtures versus New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia.

    “The fact that even when I had dips in form I have always been brought into Ireland camp has been a big vote of confidence for me,” he reasoned. “I’m very appreciative to Andy Farrell for that. That being said, I would like to put a green jersey on a few more times this year. That’s the big goal for me. Hopefully I get the opportunity to do that.”

    The icing would be sharing a family moment post-game in Dublin. “Exactly, I’m excited for that. Phoebe, my eldest, she has already started pretending to play rugby running around the house which it’s quite cute,” he beamed.

    Being a professional rugby player wasn’t something on Stockdale’s radar until his late teens. “I probably didn’t think it was really a career option until I was 18 and a year later I was playing for Ulster. You see younger lads come through and that is all they have known.

    “I think of Nathan Doak at Ulster with his dad being Neil Doak, he has been on that pathway since he was like 12 years old. I remember in Wallace, I was last year in school and he was first year and him pointing to the sticks when he was 12 years old and taking three points, stuff you didn’t see.

    “I remember thinking that kid has a one-track mind and I love that he is playing for Ulster now but for me, it was very different. It was all of a sudden when I was 17, 18, it was here this could be an option for you. Very thankful that it did pay off.”

    There should be plenty of years left in Stockdale’s rugby career but having flicked the switch during his injury lay-off a few years back, he knows the day will come when an alternative wage is required. “I have thought a lot about retirement. It’s something I hope is a good few years down the line yet but I have put plans in place.

    “I am doing an engineering degree at the moment and yeah, it’s something I think about a lot. Not entirely sure what I want to do yet but I would like to do something around engineering, in that world. But either way, having that degree under my belt is a good look for employers and that is what I am worried about. I can’t see myself staying in rugby. I don’t think I have the patience for coaching.”

    Engineering might be just the thing given his interest in classic cars. “Yeah, they both go hand in hand. Probably the intrigue in cars and anything with an engine pushed me towards doing the engineering degree but if I could combine the two and that would be my job after I retire, that would be better than being a professional rugby player,” he quipped. “We will see how all that pans out. I’ve still got the Mustang but it’s sitting in the garage and has been for a few months now. I think I’m going to have to sell it.”

    His dogs have been another great distraction. “A Hungarian Vizsla and a Bernese mountain and they are brilliant. They are a pain sometimes, especially if I have a daughter and a baby running about, but they are great.’

    So too the sounding board wisdom of his father, Rev Graham Stockdale. “The biggest thing I have learned in my career is resilience, to keep getting up every morning and doing what you know is the right thing to do even when it is not paying dividends, when you are not seeing the results. It’s the most frustrating place in the world to be but eventually it will turn around and that is what I learned. Resilience.

    “It [religion] is an enormous part of my life and my family’s life. It’s definitely something that has been a comfort to me whenever things are feeling a bit more difficult. Dad knows from a faith point of view but also from a general role model point of view, he has always been a really good sounding board for me, somebody I can bounce things off and ask advice from, and he has always been very good in that sense. Very lucky to have him.

    “He is fairly unflappable and really thinks about things. He thinks through answers before he answers and I can sometimes be the opposite of that where I just work straight off emotion so he is good to pump the brakes for me a wee bit and go you really want to think about this for a second before you do or say anything. He has been a brilliant source of advice and an incredible role model growing up.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

    Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

    New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

    Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

    Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

    The Rise of Kenya | The Report

    New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

    The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    0 Comments
    Be the first to comment...

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    I
    IkeaBoy 36 minutes ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “Why are you so insistent on being wrong? Man United won in 2008 (beating Chelsea in the final). In 2009 Barcelona won, beating United.”

    Good lad, just checking. So you’re not a bot! Chelsea bombed the 2008 final more than United won it. John Terry… couldn’t happen to a nicer fella.


    “The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.”

    Again - you’re not correct. City won the CL in 2023, and made the final in 2021. Those are the only two CL finals they have made.”

    So the difference between 2021 and 2023 would of course be TWO YEARS. 24 months would account for 3 different seasons. They contested ECL finals twice in two years. The first in 2021 - which they lost - was still the first elite European final in the clubs then 141 year history. Explain clearly how that’s not an achievement? Guess what age he was then…


    “I think your take on Gatland is pretty silly. Gatland was without Edwards in the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours and managed to do alright.”

    I thought you don’t care what certain managers did 10 years ago…

    Why would I address Eddie Jones? Why would he be deserving of a single sentence?


    “I am aware Les Kiss has achieved great things in his career, but I don’t care what he did over ten years ago. Rugby was a different sport back then.”

    So you haven’t watched even a minute of Super Rugby this year?


    “lol u really need to chill out”

    Simply frightful! If you’re not a bot you’re at least Gen-Z?

    171 Go to comments
    f
    fl 1 hour ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “Pep didn’t win the ECL in 2009. It was 2008 with Barca”

    Why are you so insistent on being wrong? Man United won in 2008 (beating Chelsea in the final). In 2009 Barcelona won, beating United.


    “The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.”

    Again - you’re not correct. City won the CL in 2023, and made the final in 2021. Those are the only two CL finals they have made. With Barcelona, Pep made the semi final four consecutive times - with City he’s managed only 3 in 8 years. This year they didn’t even make the round of 16.


    To re-cap, you wrote that Pep “has gotten better with age. By every measure.” There are some measures that support what you’re saying, but the vast majority of the measures that you have highlighted actually show the opposite.


    I am aware Les Kiss has achieved great things in his career, but I don’t care what he did over ten years ago. Rugby was a different sport back then.


    I think your take on Gatland is pretty silly. Gatland was without Edwards in the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours and managed to do alright. You’ve also not addressed Eddie Jones.


    I agree wrt Schmidt. He would ideally be retained, but it wouldn’t work to have a remote head coach. He should definitely be hired as a consultant/analyst/selector though.


    “Look at the talent that would be discarded in Schmidt and Kiss if your age Nazism was applied.”

    lol u really need to chill out lad. Kiss and Schmidt would both be great members of the coaching set up in 2025, but it would be ridiculous to bank on either to retain the head coach role until 2031.

    171 Go to comments
    I
    IkeaBoy 1 hour ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    Pep didn’t win the ECL in 2009. It was 2008 with Barca. The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.


    His time with City - a lower win ratio compared to Bayern Munich as you say - includes a 100 PT season. A feat that will likely never be surpassed. I appreciate you don’t follow soccer too closely but even casual fans refer to the sport in ‘pre and post Pep’ terms and all because of what he has achieved and is continuing to achieve, late career. There is a reason that even U10’s play out from the back now at every level of the game. That’s also a fairly recent development.


    How refreshing to return to rugby on a rugby forum.


    Ireland won a long over due slam in 2009. The last embers of a golden generation was kicked on by a handful of young new players and a new senior coach. Kiss was brought in as defence coach and was the reason they won it. They’d the best defence in the game at the time. He all but invented the choke tackle. Fittingly they backed it up in the next world cup in their 2011 pool match against… Australia. The instantly iconic image of Will Genia getting rag-dolled by Stephen Ferris.


    His career since has even included director of rugby positions. He would have an extremely good idea of where the game is at and where it is going in addition to governance experience and dealings. Not least in Oz were many of the players will have come via or across Rugby League pathways.


    Gatland isn’t a valid coach to compare too. He only ever over-achieved and was barely schools level without Shaun Edwards at club or test level. His return to Wales simply exposed his limitations and a chaotic union. It wasn’t age.


    Schmidt is open to staying involved in a remote capacity which I think deserves more attention. It would be a brain drain to lose him. He stepped in to coach the ABs in the first 2022 test against Ireland when Foster was laid out with Covid. They mullered Ireland 42-19. He was still heavily involved in the RWC 2023 quarter final. Same story.


    Look at the talent that would be discarded in Schmidt and Kiss if your age Nazism was applied.

    171 Go to comments
    f
    fl 3 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    “He won a ECL and a domestic treble at the beginning of his career.”

    He won 2 ECLs at the beginning of his career (2009, 2011). Since then he’s won 1 in 15 years.


    “He then won 3 leagues on the bounce later in his career”

    He won 3 leagues on the bounce at the start of his career too - (2009, 2010, 2011).


    If we’re judging him by champions league wins, he peaked in his late 30s, early 40s. If we’re judging him by domestic titles he’s stayed pretty consistent over his career. If we’re judging him by overall win rate he peaked at Bayern, and was better at Barcelona than at City. So no, he hasn’t gotten better by every measure.


    “You mentioned coaches were older around the mid-2010’s compared to the mid-2000’s. Robson was well above the average age you’ve given for those periods even in the 90’s when in his pomp.”

    Robson was 63-64 when he was at Barcelona, so he wasn’t very old. But yeah, he was slightly above the average age of 60 I gave for the top 4 premier league coaches in 2015, and quite a bit above the averages for 2005 and 2025.


    “Also, comparing coaches - and their experiences, achievements - at different ages is unstable. It’s not a valid way to compare and tends to torpedo your own logic when you do compare them on equal terms. I can see why you don’t like doing it.”

    Well my logic certainly hasn’t been torpedoed. Currently the most successful premier league coaches right now are younger than they were ten years ago. You can throw all the nuance at it that you want, but that fact won’t change. It’s not even clear what comparing managers “on equal terms” would even mean, or why it would be relevant to anything I’ve said.


    “You still haven’t answered why Kiss could be a risker appointment?”

    Because I’ve been talking to you about football managers. If you want to change the subject then great - I care a lot more about rugby than I do football.

    But wrt Kiss, I don’t agree that 25 years experience is actually that useful, given what a different sport rugby was 25 years ago. Obviously in theory more experience can never be a bad thing, but I think 10 years of coaching experience is actually more than enough these days. Erasmus had been a coach for 13 years when he got the SA top job. Andy Farrell had been a coach for 9 when he got the Ireland job. I don’t think anyone would say that either of them were lacking in experience.


    Now - what about coaches who do have 25+ years experience? The clearest example of that would be Eddie Jones, who started coaching 31 years ago. He did pretty well everywhere he worked until around 2021 (when he was 61), when results with England hit a sharp decline. He similarly oversaw a terrible run with Australia, and currently isn’t doing a great job with Japan.

    Another example is Warren Gatland, who also started coaching full-time 31 years ago, after 5 years as a player-coach. Gatland did pretty well everywhere he went until 2020 (when he was 56), when he did a relatively poor job with the Chiefs, before doing a pretty poor job with the Lions, and then overseeing a genuine disaster with Wales. There are very few other examples, as most coaches retire or step back into lesser roles when they enter their 60s. Mick Byrne actually has 34 years experience in coaching (but only 23 years coaching in rugby) and at 66 he’s the oldest coach of a top 10 side, and he’s actually doing really well. He goes to show that you can continue to be a good coach well into your 60s, but he seems like an outlier.


    So the point is - right now, Les Kiss looks like a pretty reliable option, but 5 years ago so did Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland before they went on to prove that coaches often decline as they get older. If Australia want Kiss as a short term appointment to take over after Schmidt leaves in the summer, I don’t think that would be a terrible idea - but NB wanted Kiss as a long term appointment starting in 2027! That’s a massive risk, given the chance that his aptitude will begin to decline.


    Its kind of analagous to how players decline. We know (for example) that a fly-half can still be world class at 38, but we also know that most fly-halves peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so it is generally considered a risk to build your game plan around someone much older than that.

    171 Go to comments
    A
    AlanCriner 3 hours ago
    Ian Foster address injury rumours to key All Black before World Cup final

    My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

    Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

    Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

    Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

    I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

    29 Go to comments
    A
    AlanCriner 3 hours ago
    Exeter look to Charlie Chapman to boost scrum-half options

    My name is Alan Criner, and I'm a resident of Toronto, CA. I'm a 45-year-old financial analyst who has always been cautious with my investments. However, in my quest to diversify my portfolio, I fell prey to a devastating fake crypto investment scam, losing 125,000 Canadian dollars' worth of Bitcoin. This traumatic experience sent my life into a downward spiral, leaving me depressed and feeling hopeless.

    Despite my repeated attempts to contact the account manager who initially approached me on Telegram, I was met with silence. They refused to provide any explanation or information, and I was locked out of my account on their website. The authorities were unable to assist me, as the scammers were untraceable.

    Just when I thought all was lost, my nephew, a Canadian government lawyer, introduced me to Morphohack Cyber Service, a reputable private investigator and crypto recovery company. I visited their website (www . morphohackcyber . com) and, after mustering the courage, contacted them. They listened attentively as I recounted my ordeal and educated me on the scam, revealing that numerous others had fallen victim to the same scheme.

    Although skeptical at first, I decided to take a chance. Morphohack guided me through the process, instructing me to set up a new wallet. To my astonishment, they successfully recovered my stolen Bitcoin and transferred it to my new wallet. I was stunned, struggling to comprehend how this was possible.

    I initially wanted to keep this experience private, but I realized that there may be others out there who have suffered similar losses. If you're a victim of crypto theft, I urge you to reach out to Morphohack Cyber Service. They can be contacted through their website or email. (Morphohack@cyberservices . com, Info@morphohackcyber . com) Don't give up hope, there is a way to recover your stolen crypto assets.

    0 Go to comments
    T
    Theresa Wright 4 hours ago
    Six Nations: 5 things we've learned from half-way point weekend

    Have always had trust issues with my boyfriend but to clear my doubt I had to hire verifiedprohackers@gmail.com to help monitor all activities done on my boyfriend phone just to be sure his not cheating because am tired of always stalking him when ever he doesn’t pick my calls or has a call and refuses to pick his calls I tend to feel his seeing  another woman so in other to make things easy for me verifiedprohackers@gmail.com gave me the best phone hack with no trace and now I feel satisfied. Thank you so much verifiedprohackers@gmail.com

    5 Go to comments
    TRENDING
    TRENDING The Olympian taking to Super Rugby like a duck to water The Olympian pushing the Chiefs to new heights
    Search