Jacob Stockdale's first Six Nations start in five years proves a torrid affair
Jacob Stockdale was given his opportunity to return to Six Nations when chosen ahead of James Lowe for France in Stade de France.Those watching the first-half may have been wondering was it the right decision but those watching the second-half were treated to a better performance.Stockdale said: "It was great to be back on the pitch. It's a funny thing so it is. On one hand you feel the frustration and sometimes you want to go, ‘Do you know what, it's not worth it because of the constant disappointment."But the wee glint of hope that you might play international rugby again just keeps drawing you back in. That I'm fairly sure we're contractually obliged to play for Ireland"It was awesome to play at this level again. But yeah, probably the emotions are disappointment, a bit of frustration in there as well. But it’s good to be back."I wasn't entirely expecting it. I think the main feeling was just relief. I've come into the last four Six Nations now hoping to be able to play a game and I haven't."So to be able to put on that green jersey again in the Six Nations was really special to me. It's something I've wanted to do for a number of years.There is a case to be made the Ulster winger had a far better second-half than first-half, his pick up in form chiming with the arrival of the first of the replacements, Jack Conan, James Ryan, Nick Timony and Jack Crowley in the 50th minute..“I don't think there was a lack of energy or effort from the start but, absolutely, the bench did a brilliant job of lifting the team and making a big impact," he added."That's expected from the lads on the bench and they did a great job of that."There is 10 days to regroup before facing Italy in Dublin."There will be a few meetings, so there will, to try to figure out exactly what happened there. There are things you can look to and probably not holding onto the ball well enough."There is maybe a bit of a lack of intensity. There are different things, but ultimately we will have to go back and review it properly to know exactly where we let them in."There was enough in the error count to see French on constant attack.“Yeah, it did feel that a bit," stated Stockdale. "There's different ways you can, in terms of your kick-chase, chasing balls 100 percent, getting into the contest. I know we didn't get them back"But all you can do is really go hard at them and do your best to try and get the ball back. I felt like there's different ways I was able to show intent, not necessarily just through carrying or with ball in hand."Certainly Stockdale had done enough to be retained - when the sign came that a winger was being subbed it was Tommy O'Brien who was hooked.“There was just a bit of confusion about who was going off," he said. "I thought it was me at first. Jack told me it was me at first and then the guys on the sideline said it was actually Tommy."I didn't feel like that changed my mindset in the game at all. I think it just happened to be at a point where the subs came on and made a big impact on the game and then across the board"Like I was saying before, the opposite side of things with the ball did start bouncing back on our side and we started getting into contests a bit better.“The contestables are obviously becoming a much bigger part of the game because of the rule changes. It was certainly something we went after leading up to this game."The hope is to bounce back against Italy on Saturday week.“Italy are a brilliant team. Both Zebra and Treviso in the URC have shown real form and they're getting better and better every game," commented Stockdale."Playing Italy is not like how it used to be five years ago. They're a very, very good team and they definitely deserve the utmost respect."Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond.
