Stuart McCloskey quickly gets in tune with Ireland team-mates

A Test debut ending in defeat could have been bittersweet for Stuart McCloskey, particularly when the centre spent most of his 64 minutes on the Twickenham pitch defending rather than putting his attacking strengths on display.

Yet like the song he sang to the squad as his initiation into Test rugby, the 22-year-old Ulsterman felt his debut against England got better as the it progressed.

McCloskey’s version of Robbie Williams’s “Angels”, as he told it “didn’t go down terribly well but after the first 30 seconds, it went all right once I got to the chorus”. His first experience of international rugby took a similar trajectory, albeit from a higher base level.

“Alright,” he ventured. “A few improvements to make, felt I built into the game okay. Got a bit more comfortable in the second half but improvements to be made.

“In an attacking sense it was a hard one to get into, but defending like that for 30 or 40 minutes was obviously hard to get the attacking game going. When we did run strike plays we were unlucky, we got called back for the penalty (on Henshaw) when Johnny was through. We’d have liked to get more set-piece and stuff, but second half we got a bit more then.”

McCloskey did not look nor feel out of his depth, considering the Six Nations cauldron in which he was being asked to take his first steps as a Test player. Handed his spot at inside centre as Robbie Henshaw moved outside to cover for the injured Jared Payne, the No.12 said he had felt excitement at being told he would be starting against England.

Also “a bit nervous, I don’t think too many people get their first cap away in Twickenham, just excited to get out there”.

“(I felt) as comfortable as anyone can feel going out in front of 82,000 people for your first cap. I wasn’t too nervous, I was more nervous earlier in the day but once I got out there it was like a normal game of rugby really.”

McCloskey played an integral part in Ireland’s first-half rearguard as England kept the visitors pinned inside their own half, enjoying 73% territory and 60% possession in the opening 40 minutes but reaching half-time with just a 6-3 lead.

The debutant got a crucial knee in front of Dylan Hartley to prevent a try, though modestly credited Conor Murray for making the initial, try-halting tackle on the England captain. The second half saw a glimpse of the carrying that has been so impressive for Ulster this season and earned the 6ft 4ins, 110kg centre his Test debut.

Against England his first real chance came early in the second half as McCloskey went through scrum-half Ben Youngs although he could be forgiven for being frustrated at the limited number of opportunities he had to run at home defenders.

“We had a few strike plays but then the set-piece didn’t quite go to plan. That’s the way games go sometimes. In the first half, we lost a couple of lineouts and they were the ones we were going to go direct, and then the ones we won we were going wide. But I don’t mind playing that game either. I’m happy to play my part either way.”

McCloskey is hopeful but not expectant of being handed an immediate return to the green jersey against Italy. His provincial colleague Payne is coming back to fitness after a hamstring problem and would appear set to resume his midfield partnership Henshaw unless Schmidt sees merit in further bedding in the newer combination.

On being offered the opportunity to play for Ireland at the Aviva, McCloskey said: “Who wouldn’t? I’d love to get my chance, but I don’t pick the team so I’ll see how it goes.”

Teaming up with Henshaw again for a repeat of Ireland’s first truly big midfield is certainly something worth revisiting and understandably McCloskey himself is all in favour.

“If you give any partnership time it’s going to improve, so if me and Robbie were picked together it would get a bit more cohesion as the games go on.

“As you play more games, the subtleties (in your individual game) just come more than anything. If you play at that level, at European and Pro12 standard, you just get used to it and get more confident at doing things that you maybe wouldn’t have done at the start. It’s just a case of getting more experience and having a bit more confidence.”