{"id":160452,"date":"2025-11-03T13:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/160452\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:15:13","slug":"stuart-mccloskey-left-soldier-field-with-reputation-enhanced-despite-injury-frustrations-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/160452\/","title":{"rendered":"Stuart McCloskey left Soldier Field with reputation enhanced despite injury frustrations \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stuart McCloskey could feel proud in the knowledge he had justified his selection ahead of two Lions<\/a> to start against <\/a>the All Blacks<\/a>. Despite this, he also wore the look of a man frustrated by how his big evening in Chicago panned out.<\/p>\n

The Ulster<\/a> player was surprisingly chosen ahead of Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw for his 22nd cap \u2013 just his ninth Test start against a Tier 1 nation, 10 seasons on from his debut at Twickenham. His hard carrying beyond contact, as well as his offloading ability, gave Ireland another attacking dimension.<\/p>\n

McCloskey was Ireland<\/a>\u2019s leading carrier, with a dozen carries, and made the most metres (47) in his 57 minutes on the pitch. However, it was a case of what might have been had either of two offloads in the first-half gone to hand. This applies to the first of them, in particular.<\/p>\n

McCloskey carried beyond contact in a double tackle and would have sent Jamie Osborne clear had Ardie Savea not slapped his forearm to knock the ball downwards. <\/p>\n

\"\"How to save a young Irish rugby player\u2019s career<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played some big games over the years but that\u2019s right up there \u2013 probably up there with the one against France in the Six Nations a couple of years ago,\u201d said McCloskey. \u201cI thought it went all right; I had some good impacts on the game. I wish a couple of the offloads had stuck and the lads had run them in, but overall I was very happy with how the 55 minutes went. <\/p>\n

\u201cI knew we had a penalty or scrum advantage. I just saw him coming and Ardie\u2019s hands just popped up [at the] last minute. It was tough. I think Jamie would have been under the posts. It\u2019s one of those ones you go for. Some days they stick, some days they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA disappointed Stuart McCloskey after Ireland’s defeat to New Zealand at Soldier Field, Chicago, on Saturday. Photograph: Dan Sheridan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

McCloskey\u2019s day was cut short before the hour mark due to a groin strain when attempting a change of direction. This setback further tempered his mood. The likelihood is there will be changes against Japan on Saturday, with both Aki and Henshaw alternatives at 12. McCloskey doesn\u2019t know if he will be available for the meeting with Australia a week later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love this groin to be alright,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d love to get back out there, if not next week then the week after and put another foot down. There\u2019s another two guys in there, two Lions, waiting to go as well; it\u2019s very competitive. You don\u2019t want to give up the spot without a bit of a fight.\u201d <\/p>\n

As for the injury, McCloskey said: \u201cHard to know. I think with these things, sometimes it can be tough to turn it around, but I\u2019ll see how we turn up after the flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Andy Farrell says lack of mental sharpness at key times cost Ireland dearly in ChicagoOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

He had a sense he might be starting against the All Blacks from training, but didn\u2019t want to count any chickens before Andy Farrell confirmed it to him on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to think of it as another game. Faz (Farrell) asked me before, \u2018what\u2019s your thoughts on the day?\u2019. I was like, \u2018just be calm\u2019; I think I play my best rugby when I\u2019m quite chilled out, getting the ball in my hands and play it like a kid out there. Just get in the right possessions, try to do the right thing and don\u2019t try to make it bigger than what it is \u2013 it\u2019s just a game of rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

As much as any Irish player in this past decade, McCloskey has had to continually prove patience is indeed a virtue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had to say to myself maybe six or seven years ago to be patient and stick at it. I always thought if I got a couple more caps when I was on three or four caps, I\u2019d be happy. But I\u2019ve just tried to stay in there and play good rugby for Ulster and try to put the pressure on the lads ahead of me to be the best they could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCloskey added with a wry smile: \u201cHopefully I\u2019ve pushed them on a bit \u2013 they\u2019ve got a few Lions tours out of it so they can thank me for that! But it was always \u2018stick at it\u2019. Hopefully this injury isn\u2019t too bad and I get a few more games.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stuart McCloskey could feel proud in the knowledge he had justified his selection ahead of two Lions to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[34133,18,19,17,34132,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-160452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-all-blacks","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-ireland-rugby","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115485955091103121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}