Ireland’s young guns run over their fears
“Ireland U18s, I think I was eight in five games, so I was. So, yeah, I’m dropping off now.”
This wasn’t a case of a young player crowing about his worth. If anything, the Ulster wing was being modest given he neglected to mention the fact that he claimed five tries in four games for the U20s two seasons ago as well.
Mad stuff.
Stockdale spoke recently about the career path he once had worked out for himself, all going well. A first Six Nations appearance was pencilled in for some time around his 23rd birthday. So he was two years ahead of schedule when he featured against France in Paris earlier this month.
The rate at which he is hitting markers is phenomenal.
As he noted himself afterwards, it is Simon Zebo’s imminent departure for France in the summer that has helped open the door for him so soon — regardless of what Joe Schmidt may tell us — and it is instructive to compare the pair’s experiences in green.
Zebo claimed nine tries for Ireland over 35 appearances so Stockdale is just one five-pointer behind him with 27 games less played. And he has already scored more Six Nations tries than Zebo managed thanks to the pair he recorded against Wales.
That penchant for being in the right place at the right time was crystallised in injury-time on Saturday when he intercepted Gareth Anscombe’s speculative pass before dotting down for the score that secured the win.
His thoughts as he made the move?
“I need to get this,” he joked. “We had really good pressure from the interior defence. I think it was Chris Farrell and he put a lot of pressure on Gareth Anscombe and got into the path. I knew they would have to go over the top and, luckily, he threw it over the top and I was in the spot to get it.” He may give a nod to fortune but there was no compromise in his mind at the time. No calculation of the risk-to-reward ratio. If anything, he was secure enough in his own ability to know that he could change direction and make a hit if the ball cleared his head.
Warren Gatland didn’t see it that way.
The Welsh coach called it in starker terms: bypass Stockdale and his boys had a three-on-one overlap on the outside and a probable try but Stockdale has been backing his instincts with Ireland and the dividends are obvious.
It’s not that he has arrived on this elevated stage fully formed. His defence still needs work — as Gareth Davies proved for his try — and Jonathan Sexton tore a strip off him at one stage against Italy when he wasn’t attuned to the possibility of a quick restart.
He was caught off guard again by his out-half here. When Sexton made that quick tap in the second-half, Stockdale was looking for some sticky spray for his arm having surveyed the scene and come to the conclusion that there was nothing on. “I heard the crowd roaring and I turned around and Johnny was haring up the line...”
Overall, he is well in credit. So were all the young turks who found themselves promoted with almost undue haste for this one and that holds from the moment Chris Farrell flattened Leigh Halfpenny in the opening engagement through to Stockdale’s closing contribution.
It’s just 20 months since Ryan, Stockdale and Andrew Porter all appeared in a Junior World Cup final together at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford. Irish teammates as far back as their U18 days, the trio stood side by side for the anthems at the weekend.
Porter held up his side of the bargain — and the scrum. Ryan screamed composure and comfort. There was Dan Leavy, too, who carried and tackled and bothered in the rucks, as well as Farrell who was gargantuan in more sense than one in the midfield.
Bundee Aki, the eldest of the newbies, actually stuttered the most.
None of them brought more than a handful of caps to this theatre but the manner in which they take care of business, devoid of drama, exudes a sense of nervelessness that actually does the magnitude of their achievements a disservice.
“The game is too big not to be very nervous about it and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t,” said Ryan afterwards. For Stockdale, too, there is no getting away from the butterflies, whether it is a tepid AIL league game or a Six Nations pressure cooker.
These guys don’t just face their fears. They run over them.
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