THERE WAS ALWAYS going to be a bit of venom in Stuart McCloskey’s carrying for Ulster against Bath yesterday evening, just a few days after his latest Ireland disappointment.
The 27-year-old was left out of Ireland’s Six Nations squad on Wednesday, the new era under Andy Farrell failing to end McCloskey’s international frustration for now, despite some strong performances for Ulster in recent times.
Had Farrell opted to pick a squad of more than 35 players – Wales and Scotland named 38, while France selected 42 – McCloskey would likely have featured but he is competing against some real quality in Ireland’s midfield.
Simply put, Farrell rates Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw as better inside centres at this point in time. Aki and Henshaw are superb players so that’s understandable, but McCloskey would back himself to deliver for Ireland if given the opportunity.
His wait to add to his three Ireland caps goes on for the time being, but he would have enjoyed delivering a solid performance as Ulster beat Bath 22-15 yesterday to secure a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final for the second season in a row.
McCloskey carried as powerfully as ever but also showed some nice handling, his slick skip pass for Will Addison’s second-half try the highlight in that regard, particularly coming a week after he had failed to pass with a big overlap outside him away to Clermont.
The imposing 6ft 4ins Ulster centre is now heading into a lengthy break from playing as several of his team-mates look towards Ireland camp and the build-up to the Six Nations.
McCloskey will be standing by in the event of injuries in midfield but his head coach in Ulster, Dan McFarland, understands the Bangor man’s dejection.
“Stu’s really disappointed, as well he should be,” said McFarland. “He’s played really well, he’s a really good player. There’d be a lot of countries in the world who would choose Stuart McCloskey in their Six Nations squad.
“It just so happens that Ireland’s one of the best countries in the world and they have some of the best centres in the world, and they’re all fighting over those slots.
“Stu totally understands that in order to get in the squad, it’s not how good he is, it’s whether he’s better than the other people.
“Are you asking whether I’d have picked him in my squad? Yes. I really love Stu. I know Robbie and I know Bundee well, but Stu is one of my players. Of course I’d have picked him.”
McCloskey and Ulster secured their Champions Cup quarter-final with a performance that featured plenty of sloppy moments but enough quality to overcome a weakened Bath team on a 22-15 scoreline.
A poor first half meant Ulster were level at 7-7 at the break but they started the second half with a bang and tries through Robert Baloucoune and Will Addison allowed them to stretch their lead.
“I reckon we didn’t play very well in the first half, potentially, because we overestimated our ability to control the game, which was confirmed when we scored reasonably early,” said McFarland. “It was very un-us.
“Then, with their boring us to death with their kicking game and having an injury every 30 seconds it took the steam out of the game and the crowd gets frustrated, we get frustrated, which is compounded with us making elementary errors.
“I think we came out [for the second half] with more energy, more fizz. The crowd did a fantastic job, to be fair, in terms of trying to pick us up and drive it on, and there were a couple of occasions there when they really got going.
“We had a better kick-chase in the second half, more aggressive defence, and obviously we had a few opportunities to score in attack which was good. We still had the odd set-piece malfunction which didn’t really help but definitely better in the second half.”
He has been a lot better than Henshaw the last year, so he should feel annoyed he wasn’t selected ahead of him.
@blindside: consistently playing well and and more importantly consistently playing
@blindside: I wouldn’t have him there instead of Henshaw as he is versatile but Aki instead as I think he’s not as good as people make him out to be, McCloskey offers so much more. I would have had him starting with Henshaw at 23
@blindside: For me, Henshaw’s been genuinely excellent this season.
He looks to have cut a few pounds, stayed fit for an extended period and Henshaw’s attacking game in particular has benefitted massively as a result.
Having watched all season for Leinster, I’ve been genuinely baffled by the calls here to have him dropped.
@EK: no one who truly watches the game would call for Henshaw to be dropped. He’s remarkably consistent for Leinster and Ireland and arguably more physical even then Bundee
@Bob Joe: McCloskey is playing great most of the time but he still has a tendency to make some very poor decisions and look for off loads when they’re simply not on. Am test level that would be badly punished
The Dublin media have been pushing Clooney over Murray as the form scrum half and rightly so, but won’t push for McCloskey over Henshaw even though the former is the form inside centre at the moment
@Patrick O Connell: some players get an easy ride … Fitzgerald and heaslip never got criticism in the same way that o mahony and Murray have (in many cases well deserved criticism) because of who they played for. Thornley and kinsella have imo the most neutral povs but the rest are tribalists like 99% of posters here
@Patrick O Connell: Patrick you have some chip on your shoulder.
@yoloboyz: Heaslip got an incredible amount of undeserved stick. As has Kearney – both brothers actually. Must be because they were wearing blue, of course…
Ridiculous chip-on-the-shoulder comments.
@yoloboyz: yeah seriously, the amount of abuse Heaslip got was ridiculous, very bad example.
@Patrick O Connell: Dublin media. Jesus some people should seek help with the chips on their shoulders.
McCloskey and Ringrose is something you never knew you wanted but now you need it
@Cortiss: yeah you can imagine the damage ringrose could do coming onto some of Mccloskeys offloads
With the lack of game time for Henshaw to prove his form Stuart should probably have been picked tbf. Our top players seek to take it to easy in three pro14 “saving” themselves for 6 nations and HC and I think this is one reason why they are no longer robust enough and keep picking up injuries. There is a fine line between being overloaded and battle hardened and I think we’re falling the wrong side of it. Sean O’Brien hardly played a game for Leinster since he was 25 or 26 but kept coming back for Ireland or the HC big games and getting injured again.
@Dino Baggio: all this nonsense about Henshaw and game time … he’s been playing superb for Leinster! Are the people commenting here actually watching rugby?
Certainly very unlucky on Stu, he’s been great. But I don’t think people have been watching Henshaw closely enough this season and are just basing their opinions on what the masses parrot. Henshaw has been in absolutely brilliant form since coming back from the world cup. Back to the kind of form that got him selected for the Lions. If anyone should be dropping out of the squad based on form for McCloskey it should be Aki who hasn’t reached his WC highs yet. But I’d still have Aki ahead of McCloskey. It’s not a reflection on him, just the incredible depth we have at centre. Something has to give and a class player will miss out.
@Peter McCarthy: yeah I agree. Henshaw is our best inside centre but McCloskey is easily our second best. He offers so much more than Aki. Aki will run through brick walls all day for you but so will McCloskey, and he has the hands to set other players free at the end of it. As someone else said Farrell could have named a bigger squad that included both Stuart and Ruddock but for whatever reason had chosen to leave them at home. Maybe he wants to send some sort of message, I don’t know, but on form they both deserve to be in the squad if not starting.
@Ger: I can understand the argument for either, and would be happy with any two of those three tbh. They’re all good players. what I don’t understand is the mass hysteria. It’s a pretty close call. Farrell said in an interview he wanted to pick a smaller squad to create fierce competition, and that everyone there had to really fight for their place. He also said the squad can and will be fluid so it’s not over for Ruddock or McCloskey yet.
@Ger: problem for McCloskey is he doesn’t know when it’s right to use those great hands for a pass or offload and when it’s simply not on!! That’s his Achilles heel IMO
I wonder what’s the logic behind picking a smaller squad than other teams.. Why not include the likes of McCloskey and Ruddock, (for example) if you can? In the event of injuries at least they’ll have been training with the team already..
@Karlos McGrath: training park minutes would be my guess, if you want to introduce new plays or new styles you have to run them in training. How many minutes each player gets running in the 12 shirt. Divided by 2 at the moment 3 means that maybe all undercooked.
It is a hard one and I see the frustration. Henshaw and a lot of the other World Cup squad have played very little rugby since coming back. Ferris was on off the ball the other day and said maybe we need to increase the players loads abit to get more game time before the big matches as it’s hard to judge Murray vs coney when Murray’s played 3-4 games and coney has played 12. Murray is probably and o’mahony are probably the players under the most pressure. Henshaw has played well for Leinster in his few appearances.
Sends out the wrong message not picking McCloskey, again reputation has been selected ahead of form. Farrell states he is picking on form but not consistently it appears. Sending out mixed signals whereby nobody knows where they stand can be just as damaging as selecting the same 23 year on year. No nobody knows where they stand.
@RabidHorizon: Do you think form is an opinion or binary?
@RabidHorizon: what’s wrong with Henshaw’s and Ali’s form?
@RabidHorizon: what’s wrong with Henshaw’s and Aki’s form?
@BMJF: They havent played enough to see if their form is as consistent as McCloskey.
Harsh indeed on Mccloskey…… Another player at centre not even mentioned albeit out injured is Tom Farrell. Outstanding last year. Seen him come off the bench with 15 minutes to go and single handedly turn around a 13 points deficit for Connacht against a very strong Cheetahs team.
@Ray Ridge: But why would anyone mention him when he’s not available? He’s played very little rugby this season which doesn’t help either.
@Elton Heffernan: just highlighting another player at centre which shows the depth we have in those positions……not suggesting he should be picked this time……I mean that would be just stupid.
@Ray Ridge: Fair enough it was just the way you said he hadn’t even been mentioned.
He is a super player though tbf, hope he gets back fit soon.
I am sure a lot of countries would choose him but the picks by Farrell are better than McCloskey. Tbh he is playing very well but tends to disappear in games and didn’t inspire confidence in his other international outings. Ringrose, Aki, Henshaw and Farrell have all proven their abilities on the international stage.
@Ro Molloy: Tends to disappear in games – nope. If you check his stats for this year and last you will see that’s not true. He’s had three games for Ire… is that really enough on which to decide his international pedigree? I like the other two 12’s but then they didn’t really inspire much confidence in last year’s 6N or the WC.