There is an argument that the Jacob Stockdale’s striking self possession for one so callow in terms of Test match experience may be drawn from a slightly nomadic upbringing in which he had to adapt to a periodically changing environment.
It has been mirrored somewhat in his rugby career, moving from centre to fullback – he was a major contributor to Ireland reaching an Under-20 World Championship final – and then to wing, where he has accumulated try scoring records with impressive élan.
His father Graham, a Presbyterian minister – his mother Janine lectures in midwifery at Queen's University – worked at the Shankill Road Mission, Newtownstewart and Gortin, and then Edengrove Presbyterian in Ballynahinch, before opting to pursue an opportunity as a chaplain in a Newry hospice and in the same capacity at Maghaberry and Hydebank prisons.
Jacob Stockdale offered an insight into is identity, one that he appears steeped in the rugby community, rather than a locale. "I spent most of my childhood in Ballynahinch. My family moved around a lot, we have lived in five or six different towns growing up.
Prisons and hospice
“My dad is a minister and he moved about a bit from church to church and then he left the ministry and went into chaplaincy in prisons and hospice. With that we moved about a wee bit. I know a lot of people in Northern Ireland, so I do,” he laughed.
“If it is anyone outside Ireland I just say I’m from Belfast because no one knows anywhere else in Northern Ireland apart from Belfast. I have lived in Lurgan for the last seven years.
"Although we moved around a lot I managed to stay in the same secondary school, Wallace High School, which was a bit of a thing for me. Wallace was probably the first place I grew up from first year to upper sixth, had a real good base of friends there, the first community I was part of from start to finish."
He also spoke warmly about the Ulster rugby family, where he was embraced enthusiastically, his development facilitated by the interest and advice he received from international wings like Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble. They were supportive and inclusive.
“As a young lad and a back growing up at schoolboy level, then club level, these are the guys you aspired to be and they were huge role models for me. They’ve been really good mentors for me in the professional game as well.
“He (Bowe) has given me a few pointers, bits of advice. To be honest, I found him most helpful leading up to this. He taught me how to play in the professional game, being there from my first year in the Academy. He’s been massively helpful.”
Prior to his Ireland debut he had only ever attended in person one international match at the Aviva stadium, a 2011 World Cup warm-up game against England, albeit having trained against the senior team there as an Under-20 international.
“My parents tended to work over the weekends and it was tough to get down, and I’d obviously be playing rugby on a Saturday as well so just unfortunately the opportunity didn’t come around as much as we’d like it to.But I watched it religiously every single week.” His father, grandfather and uncle were at the last match.
Support and encouragement
Stockdale's 10 tries in eight caps and a brace in each of his last three matches is a phenomenal strike-rate and unprecedented in Irish rugby, includes a couple of intercepts, one against Wales and then again against Scotland. He pays tribute to the support and encouragement he's received from Ireland's defence coach Andy Farrell, even when he's missed the odd tackle.
Stockdale’s attitude is to learn from the mistake and try and ensure not to replicate it. “He’s been fantastic in terms of developing me within the system and developing me as a winger defensively in general, and I was actually quite pleased with how my defence went against Scotland. I felt I stayed within the system quite well and didn’t really give them any attacking platform out wide.
“If you don’t chase 100 per cent (in terms of performance), you’re chasing 80 per cent and you might get 60 per cent. For me, it’s going out and having the very best game I can. If I make a mistake, I look at it and think ‘how will I not make that mistake again next week so I can have a better game.”
He’s come a long way in a short space of time, on and off the pitch.
