Jackson admits frustration over fledgling international career

Paddy Jackson may be baby-faced but he isn’t one to throw toys out of the pram.

Yet the 21-year-old out-half, who enjoyed a meteoric rise from provincial stand-by to international player, made clear a handful of frustrations in the most understated of fashions yesterday.

His Test career is only four games and eight months old and yet, from that controversial debut against Scotland to his return to bench duty for most of the trip to North America under Les Kiss, it has already tested the Ulsterman’s depth of character.

“It was a bit disappointing because I only got 20 minutes or so,” he admitted of that two-game summer tour to the USA and Canada. “I was playing in the Six Nations and then somewhat losing the spot to Ian [Madigan].”

That did, at least, afford him the goal of a solid start to the season and now he finds himself in camp in Kildare on the back of a good run for both himself and his province.

Heineken Cup victories at the expense of Leicester Tigers and Montpellier, the latter at the home of the Top 14 leaders, have lent an extra pep to the step of the northern contingent and yet Jackson reported for duty with an old bugbear.

His kicking soured his first start for Ireland in Murrayfield and that potential Achilles heel is something he is going to have to address if Madigan is to be usurped and Jonathan Sexton challenged. Easier said than done, of course, especially for a man who has had to cede the goal-kicking duties to his scrum-half partner-in-chief Ruan Pienaar more often than not this past 18 or so months.

“When it came to the start of the season I hadn’t kicked in seven months,” he said yesterday by way of emphasising that point. “I hit one kick, the last kick of the game on tour. Apart from that I hadn’t kicked since the Six Nations.”

The presence of Pienaar alongside him at Ulster has, quite rightly, been heralded as a boon for a young player learning the ropes but the Springbok’s ability has clearly served as a source of frustration for the younger half of that partnership.

Jackson spoke yesterday of how having to share the goal-kicking duties against Montpellier and Cardiff has been “disruptive”, “weird” and “a bit bizarre” given he had assumed sole responsibility in the elder man’s absence.

“The first few games I just decided I was kicking and I was kicking well. I was maybe 13 of 14 and if we needed those from further out Ruan could kick from 60. I missed a few last weekend [against Cardiff], I didn’t really have my kicking boots on then.

“But, yeah, it is a bit of a hard one to see who will kick. Last year I started missing a few and Mark [Anscombe] just said, ‘Let Ruan kick a few’ but I’m feeling confident in my kicking at the moment so I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be kicking.”

He’s not blind to the factors pushing Pienaar’s candidacy. Jackson describes the South African as one of the world’s best in front of the posts.

He understood why he was stood down last season but reaffirmed his determination to “fight my corner” should the matter be raised again and one feels he can only be helped by exposure to Richie Murphy this next month or more.

Murphy has worked closely with Sexton, is credited with turning Madigan’s sometimes errant goal kicking around and his input will likely feed into what Neil Doak has been doing with Jackson in Belfast.

Meanwhile, Ulster captain Johann Muller will be out of action for between four and six weeks after injuring a calf muscle during last Friday’s RaboDirect Pro 12 win over Cardiff Blues at Ravenhill.