Tour grandad Stuart McCloskey still adding strings to his bow

He'll be the veteran on Ireland's trip to Georgia, but Stuart McCloskey still believes he has improving to do.

Stuart McCloskey poses for a portrait during an Ireland rugby media conference at the IRFU High Performance Centre at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Whichever end of the age spectrum in a rugby squad a player may find themselves, the reminders of said fact are constant. Just ask Henry Pollock, tour baby with the British & Irish Lions and designated custodian of the stuffed big cat for the duration of the trip to Australia.

For Stuart McCloskey, the grandad of the Ireland squad newly arrived in Tbilisi ahead of Saturday’s Test against Georgia, there is the good-natured barracking he receives from interim head coach Paul O’Connell, who is expected to name the 32-year-old at inside centre on Thursday.

It was not meant to be the Ulster midfielder’s role on this two-Test tour which will move onto Portugal after Saturday’s one-off Test, yet the withdrawal of Scotland tighthead Zander Fagerson from the Lions squad due to injury meant a promotion for Ireland’s Finlay Bealham, 33, which left McCloskey as the senior man in an inexperienced Irish squad.

“Finlay Bealham absolutely did me in going to the Lions,” a vexed McCloskey said ahead of Ireland’s departure from Dublin. “I messaged him straightaway being like 'you've completely mugged me here, I'm the oldest now'.

“He (O’Connell) gets a dig in most days about how old I am, but I'm still faster than all those young lads anyway, I've got a few more years left in me. I keep telling Jacob (Stockdale) and Nick Timoney I'll outlast them, so I'll get them at some stage.” 

Being reminded his last trip to Georgia as an Emerging Ireland squad member at the Tbilisi Cup a decade ago was not a helpful reminder of McCloskey’s status and the Ulsterman said: “You're ageing me here, I already feel old among these lads, Paulie did it to me the other day as well. Do I remember much of it? No, I remember the zoo, it was the time the animals escaped from the zoo.

“Yeah, I was pretty naive to what professional rugby was 10 years ago. I didn't really know what I was up to, but a few years under the belt, a few more grey hairs and I think I know what I'm about these days.” 

With Robbie Henshaw injured and both Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose on Lions duty, McCloskey seems sure to add to his 19 caps over the next two weeks, with Jamie Osborne his likely midfield partner at 13 and his experience tells him every cap is a downpayment on future recognition.

Asked what his mindset for this tour was, he replied: “First of all, play well. I still think I've got a bit of rugby to go in my career, I think I have a few years left.

“So this Lions period the last time, when we played America and Japan (in 2021), sort of springboarded me on to get a lot more caps and be a lot more involved. I think I've been involved in two Six Nations wins in that time and a World Cup.

“Hopefully I'll put a good foot forward for any games coming up over the next few years and keep my head around the place and push into the next World Cup.

“I don't think I'm doing a lot wrong. I think when I've played I've went well, it's just there's four very good centres in the lads, two of them are away (with the Lions) and you could argue Robbie would've been away as well if he wasn't injured, so I don't think I'm too far off it.

“What can I do better? Keep improving on a few things, probably a bit more physicality in defence, I think I've got most things in attack. Add a few more strings to my bow, whether that's breakdown or poach threat, but overall I don't think there's a lot in it. A few decisions go my way, I'm sitting here with a few more caps.” 

For now, his chief problem is the boss’s chirping, but McCloskey revealed he has an ace up his sleeve to deal to O’Connell, though he admitted the former Munster and Ireland captain used to terrify him as an opponent.

“I think I was in one training camp with him. I think I'm the only one in the squad to have played a game against him as well. We won down at Thomond that day (in May 2014) for Ulster, I'll not mention that to him, hopefully that comes up and he sees that.

“No, as a player, incredibly intimidating, you see some of the clips of him from back in the day and he'd (be) red carded basically every week (currently) for what he did but I think he knows that himself now. It was a different time.

“Intimidating as a player, as a coach he has that intimidation factor but I think he's very personable. He lets the young guys come out of their shell, a bit like what Faz is like. He's watched Faz over the past three, four years and learned a lot from that. How has he put his own stamp on it? There hasn't been a great deal different. He's seemed quite laidback to me, but with me being the oldest in the group it's easy to feel a bit more laidback when you're 32, not 20.”