THOUGH JACOB STOCKDALE has been off social media for several years now, the recent birth of his second daughter prompted a notable return to Instagram in the aftermath of last month’s home win over Benetton.
He was pictured with newborn Bonnie and wife Hannah after the final whistle at the Kingspan but as the 28-year-old winger explained this was not his doing.
“I’m not on Instagram anymore, I still have the account, but my wife tends to manage it more often than I do,” he said.
“It was brilliant,” he added of holding his new daughter on that evening at the Kingspan, “those moments are really, really special.
“Hannah brought Phoebe, our first, along when it was my first game back after my ankle injury (in 2022), so we decided, ‘you know what, we’ll do the same for number two.’
“Carrying Bonnie around on the pitch for a wee while afterwards, and after I had carried (first daughter) Phoebe out onto the pitch, those are the moments, those wee moments, those wee memories will stay with you for life,” said Stockdale who starts in Saturday’s must-win URC clash at the Scarlets.
But his new daughter will not prompt any return to his previous online presence and involvement as Stockdale reiterates how becoming embroiled with online traffic forced him to quit regular engagement with the platforms some years ago.
“The manner in which I started my career meant I was always probably going to be scrutinised a bit more and at the start I struggled with that.
“I really cared what people thought about me and read everything that was written about me, read all the tweets everything, and then got to the point where I realised it was impacting me negatively.
“When I was really young, I actually remember saying to Rory Best that I was reading all this stuff and he was like ‘you need to stop that’ and at that point everything was really nice and everybody was complimentary, so I was like ‘alright, old man, get lost’ to a certain degree.
“I remember that was ringing in my ears a wee bit and it was just a decision I made myself a few years back when I started to realise that it wasn’t a healthy thing to be doing and just to nip it in the bud,” added the player who scored his eighth try this season last time out against Benetton.
I really thought he was going to be our x factor going into the 2019 World Cup. He could create something out of nothing like Habana or Robinson would have done. When he apologised for dropping the ball over the line against Leinster, I thought, Don’t do that man never apologise for a mistake and he’s never been right since. Biggest shame in Irish rugby I reckon.
@James Murphy: ah look what he’s good at he’s the very best, it’s the weakness in his game he never fixed. There’s plenty of bigger shames in irish rugby Nevin Spence for one or on the pitch losing Dan leavy to injury was awful too.
He definitely has all the tools to be a world class winger but probably needs to work on certain aspects of his game to put him in the elite bracket.hopefully he can push on from here and challenge for the Irish jersey
@M.chase: He’s 28 and peaked in 2018. Despite exaggerated reports of a return to form, he is nowhere near his Grand Slam and November 2018 form. That wasn’t last season or the year before. He might have been World Class in 2018 but he isn’t now and never going to be again. Far too much time has passed. He might win the odd cap here and there but he’s absolutely done as a top level international winger.
@Andrew Martin Farrell: Go on Andrew ya bollix
@Shane: He’s right I’m afraid
@Shane: no wonder he gave up social media.
@Philip Casserly: if a lie is repeated often enough it gets taken for the truth. No way is Stockdale finished, one of the top try scorers in the league esp when Ulster haven’t been playing through their backs last 2 seasons. Has been very good this season. Some people just prefer to regurgitate a lie than actally watch the player.
@Kingshu: his biggest issue was always his defence. He seems to be caught between should he melt someone or stay out and cover the pass, really good players read this and punish him. Ball in hand he’s better than everyone else, he just needs to make decisions quicker and back the call.
Irelands attempt to move him to fullback and all the negative commentary that brought, really impacted him. Add in a few injuries and it stalled his career. Farrell remained interested in him with good reason. Hopefully with Murphy encouraging him to roam more. He will get back to the levels he reached previously abd beyond. His form in the last 18 months would suggest that is possible.
he had one good season. which makes me belief that was an exception and not the norm.
@Niall English: that’s absolute rubbish. One good season??? You haven’t a clue if you really think that