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McCloskey's Ireland RWC training squad omission branded 'absolute joke'
After Ireland coach Joe Schmidt announced his 44-man World Cup training squad today, fans cannot understand how Stuart McCloskey has not made the cut.
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The Ulsterman had only recently made it into the Pro14 Dream Team, but failed to earn a place amongst Leinster’s Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, Munster’s Chris Farrell and Rory Scannell and Connacht’s Bundee Aki.
Other notable names that have missed out are Ulster’s Will Addison and Connacht’s Quin Roux, but McCloskey’s exclusion seems to be causing the most uproar on social media.
The 6ft 4 centre has only three caps to his name, all under Schmidt, with his last appearance coming in the Autumn against the USA. The New Zealander has clearly not taken to the 26-year-old, preferring Aki and Henshaw ahead of him. The powerful centre plays a similar game to Aki, with Schmidt clearly feeling there is no role in the team for the Ulsterman.
This has been suspected by Ireland fans for a long time, but the fact that McCloskey has just finished a superb season with Ulster may have been persuasion enough to be included into the fairly sizeable squad. However, he still has not done enough, and many fans have been left baffled. This is what they have said:
No Stuart McCloskey ???
— Gav (@Gavlar_99) May 28, 2019
No McCloskey, fresh off inclusion in the pro14 dream team and had a great season. Madness when you look at some who have been included.
— Adam James (@atjames88) May 28, 2019
Where’s McCloskey!?
— Rory Henry (@rory_henry_) May 28, 2019
Mental that Stu McCloskey can be left out after another standout season for Ulster. ???
— Mark Best (@Besty06) May 28, 2019
Can’t believe no Stuart McCloskey !
— Gary Killen (@KillenGary) May 28, 2019
Rory Scannell picked ahead of Tom Farrell and Stu McCloskey. ? https://t.co/ULPQDUGbu2
— Mark Gordon (@thegord001) May 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/dylancarleton84/status/1133335235763027970?s=20
Stuart McCloskey good enough for the PRO 14 team of the year not good enough for a 44 man Ireland training squad.
— Chris McCann (@canntoya) May 28, 2019
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No Stuart mccloskey on the ireland wc training squad yet there is space for Dave Kearney is an absolute joke
— Connor (@connorhart99) May 28, 2019
Laughable
— darkside lightside (@ds_ls) May 28, 2019
I could understand, but perhaps not agree, with him not making a squad of 31 but to not include him in a squad of 44 is laughable. His performances for Ulster this season have been brilliant and him, along with Coetzee, have been at the heart of Ulster’s improvement this year.
— Richard Tanswell (@richardt84) May 28, 2019
While McCloskey has been bitterly unlucky here, this is an indication of the strength in depth when it comes to Ireland’s centres. Aki, Henshaw and Ringrose in particular are three players that all deserve a starting berth in green, but one will inevitably miss out.
The reality is, as it is in all sport, some players simply do not fit a coach’s style of play or vision, and unfortunately for McCloskey, he looks like one player that cannot impress Schmidt. He will be looking forward to next season, where he will hope to curry favour with the incoming Andy Farrell.
A bad day appeared to get worse for the McCloskey, who tweeted about a lost wallet shortly after the squad announcement.
If people could retweet that would also be great ??
— stuart mccloskey (@Stuart_Mc12) May 28, 2019
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Comments on RugbyPass
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1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
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6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
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28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
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