Jacob Stockdale was among a group of Ireland U20 and 7s players to join a hectic pre-season schedule with Ulster this week.
Stockdale, Johnny McPhilips, Conall Boomer and Adam McBurney excelled as the U20 squad reached the World Championships Final last month, their best ever finish, while Nick Timoney and David Busby lined out for the Ireland Sevens team in recent weeks.
“It was a pretty fantastic experience,” reflected Stockdale, who was heavily involved as the young men in green registered wins over Wales, New Zealand, Georgia and Argentina before succumbing to England in the decider.
“This was my second time doing it and while I enjoyed everything about it last year, going out and winning four games and getting into the final made it even more special this time around,” said the Hughes Insurance Academy graduate.
Stockdale was in impressive form throughout the competition, scoring four tries from fullback, but the versatile youngster was quick to deflect praise from his own eye-catching displays.
“It was really good from a personal point of view but I had an incredible group of guys playing alongside me. I was really happy with how it went and hopefully I can push on from here.”
Following his first team involvement with Ulster last season, during which he made six appearances, the former Wallace High School pupil was one of the most experienced players at the tournament. He feels that getting those opportunities in the Guinness PRO12 was a massive benefit…
“The U20 World Championship is a very demanding tournament and there’s a lot of fantastic players that you come up against. But the PRO12 is a couple of steps above that and having that game-time with Ulster last season made everything a little bit easier. I think I was quite lucky in that sense - I was maybe more of a leader in the team because of that.”
“Les and all of the other coaches are all fantastic coaches and they’re more than happy to give us young guys a crack - that’s really exciting for us,” he continued.
Stockdale took some well-earned time off after his exploits last month but he continued to train in the interim period to ensure that he was up to speed when he joined the rest of the squad for pre-season on Monday.
“I did a few sessions last week to try to get back into it a bit because I knew it was going to be tough. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at and I’ve just got to try to push on.
“I’m surrounded by world class players and I want to learn as much as I can off the likes of Tommy (Bowe), Trimby (Andrew Trimble), Gilly (Craig Gilroy) and Charles (Piutau). There are no netter players to be around and pick things up from. That will hopefully allow me to improve my game.”
Stockdale, Johnny McPhilips, Conall Boomer and Adam McBurney excelled as the U20 squad reached the World Championships Final last month, their best ever finish, while Nick Timoney and David Busby lined out for the Ireland Sevens team in recent weeks.
“It was a pretty fantastic experience,” reflected Stockdale, who was heavily involved as the young men in green registered wins over Wales, New Zealand, Georgia and Argentina before succumbing to England in the decider.
“This was my second time doing it and while I enjoyed everything about it last year, going out and winning four games and getting into the final made it even more special this time around,” said the Hughes Insurance Academy graduate.
Stockdale was in impressive form throughout the competition, scoring four tries from fullback, but the versatile youngster was quick to deflect praise from his own eye-catching displays.
“It was really good from a personal point of view but I had an incredible group of guys playing alongside me. I was really happy with how it went and hopefully I can push on from here.”
Following his first team involvement with Ulster last season, during which he made six appearances, the former Wallace High School pupil was one of the most experienced players at the tournament. He feels that getting those opportunities in the Guinness PRO12 was a massive benefit…
“The U20 World Championship is a very demanding tournament and there’s a lot of fantastic players that you come up against. But the PRO12 is a couple of steps above that and having that game-time with Ulster last season made everything a little bit easier. I think I was quite lucky in that sense - I was maybe more of a leader in the team because of that.”
“Les and all of the other coaches are all fantastic coaches and they’re more than happy to give us young guys a crack - that’s really exciting for us,” he continued.
Stockdale took some well-earned time off after his exploits last month but he continued to train in the interim period to ensure that he was up to speed when he joined the rest of the squad for pre-season on Monday.
“I did a few sessions last week to try to get back into it a bit because I knew it was going to be tough. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at and I’ve just got to try to push on.
“I’m surrounded by world class players and I want to learn as much as I can off the likes of Tommy (Bowe), Trimby (Andrew Trimble), Gilly (Craig Gilroy) and Charles (Piutau). There are no netter players to be around and pick things up from. That will hopefully allow me to improve my game.”