STUART McCLOSKEY HAS been on the end of his fair share of difficult conversations during his stints in Ireland camp. This week, it was finally good news that came his way.

Robbie Henshaw is out due to a hamstring issue which the IRFU say isn’t believed to be too serious, so McCloskey comes in. It’s the Ulster centre’s first Ireland cap since the summer internationals against the USA and Japan last year.

It will also be his first taste of a high-intensity Test game against one of the big heavy hitters since his made his debut against England back in 2016. Since then, he’s worn the green jersey against Fiji, the USA (twice), Georgia and Japan, and also featured against the New Zealand Maori over the summer.

Now he gets a chance to show he belongs on a bigger stage, starting at inside centre against the world champion Springboks at a packed Aviva Stadium tomorrow.

The 30-year-old will partner Garry Ringrose in midfield, with the pair previously starting together against the USA in 2018.

And Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell says the coaching group are sure he’s ready to step up this weekend.

“We’re very confident about Stuart,” said O’Connell.

“I think Andy [Farrell] is obviously disappointed, and we’re all disappointed on Robbie, he’s a world class player, playing very well, but I think Stuart has had some tough days where he’s been up here training and a coach has had to have a conversation with him before the team is announced on Wednesday, and that’s happened an awful lot.

McCloskey won his first cap against England in 2016. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

“He’s always stuck with it and seems to be getting better and better and better as a player, never been disheartened. So it’s brilliant for us. 

“The whole Emerging Ireland tour, trying to get the game against New Zealand A, it’s all about getting competition for places. It’s all about getting people into the room so that all the players know who the competition is, all the players know they have a shot of getting picked and making it to the World Cup.

So for Stuart to come in and play, it just broadens the group again for us and we’d be really confident in his ability and his smarts, the experience he has in that position, it’s a great replacement for us.”

Henshaw’s injury has had a trickle down effect on an enlarged Ireland squad. With McCloskey promoted to the starting team, Jimmy O’Brien comes onto the bench and could make his Test debut tomorrow.

O’Brien had been due to start for Ireland A against a New Zealand XV at the RDS later today, but his spot on the wing now goes to Calvin Nash, while Shane Daly comes onto the Ireland A bench.

Tomorrow’s clash with the Springboks represents a major test for an Ireland squad still riding high following their summer exploits in New Zealand. It’s also an intriguing challenge for the coaching staff, and one O’Connell is relishing.

“I think for a long time they’ve been into the scrum and into the maul,” O’Connell continued.

“I look back at the Blue Bulls team of the early, mid-2000s, they would have had an excellent set-piece attack. Big men, big into their scrummaging, big into their maul with a very good kicking game.

That’s been like that for a very long time and the way they call their lineout and the way they run their lineout hasn’t changed a lot, they just keep getting, I think, better and better at it. And it’s a real strength for them.

“They go to it and I think Rassie [Erasmus] and Jacques [Nienaber], Felix [Jones], are very good at coaching that style of play as well and they work incredibly hard at the technical aspects of the maul, the technical aspects of the scrum. So it’s a big challenge for us.

“Guys are familiarising themselves within the URC, playing against these big teams who like to maul, who like to scrum and it’s been a brilliant challenge for these guys. This game for us is a brilliant challenge again.

“We haven’t played them in so long and there seemed to be a period there where we played them every year. I think you find out about yourselves whenever you play South Africa, so it’s going to be a brilliant challenge.” 

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