Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ulster's Ireland centre McCloskey signs new deal

Stuart McCloskey during Ireland team run at Twickenham (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Ulster Rugby have announced that Stuart McCloskey has committed his future to the club, putting pen to paper on a three-year contract extension that will keep him at Kingspan Stadium until 2022.

ADVERTISEMENT

McCloskey, who developed his game at Bangor GS and Dungannon RFC, made his Ulster debut in February 2014 and has represented his home province on 82 occasions. He has also been capped by Ireland three times.

Ulster’s Operations Director Bryn Cunningham said:

“This is very positive news for us going into the new season. We have quite a young squad so having experienced players like Stuart on board is hugely important.

“Stu has really grown in stature over the past couple of seasons and is a key figure for us in both attack and defence. His ability to cross the gain line is well-known, but his playmaking abilities have developed under the coaching of Dwayne Peel and he is a massive threat with ball in hand. I’m sure we’ll see him improve even more in the seasons ahead.”

McCloskey also expressed his delight after agreeing new terms.

“I’m really excited to have signed a new contract. I grew up dreaming of playing for Ulster and I feel privileged to now be in a position to pull the jersey on every week”, he said.

“We’ve recruited strongly and have a core group of experienced players who still have their best years ahead of them. We also have a large number of promising young players coming through the system, and I’ve no doubt that they will make a big impact in the coming years.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how things come together for us as we aim to bounce back to where we belong. Hopefully the supporters can buy into that as well and we can reward their loyalty.”

ADVERTISEMENT
Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

Boks Office | Episode 40 | The Steven Kitshoff Special

O2 Inside Line: All In | Episode 6 | Le Crunch

The Unexpected Journey to USA 7s Glory | Aaron Cummings | Sevens Wonders

USA vs Japan | Full Match Replay

Yokohama Canon Eagles vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

Confidence knocks and finding your people | Flo Williams | Rugby Rising Locker Room

Tackling reasons for drop-out in sport | Zainab Alema | Rugby Rising Locker Room

Jet Lag: The biggest challenge facing international sports? | The Report

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

R
RedWarriors 7 hours ago
Joe Schmidt 'a little bit intimidated' ahead of brutal 12-game Wallabies run

I flagged this issue before.


It is not just the danger of facing a big team in the round of 16: you might also get one of them in your pool. That would be two extra massive matches. No team in that scenario is winning any world cup. Its as simple as that.

Currently Argentina are 5th, England 6th, Scotland 7th and Australia 8th. With a spread of 3.5 ranking points between those 4.

Playing SA first is not bad as it means losing points at the right time. They must beat Argentina twice in subsequent matches and will gain more there. They have England away and may need to win that and another high value win over: NZ in Perth, Ireland in Dublin or France in Paris will certainly help.


Some sympathy for 7th placed Scotland is required. Scotland were eliminated in Pool stage in 2019 and as rankings were frozen at end of RWC 2019 for RWC 2023 draw, Scotland were ranked 9th. They made massive progress to be ranked 5th before 2023 but it didn’t count and they were drawn in their group of death with Ireland and SA and more or less eliminated by the draw. Compare with England who were terrible between world cups but were top 4 ranked in 2019 which gave them a quarter final against Fiji in 2023 to make a semi final.

The swing in ranking points between Scotland to England before and after RWC 2023 was a massive 6.5

Scotland should be sitting comfortably in 5th but are now 7th and will struggle to make top6. If they don’t make top 6 and get an unlucky draw they could be out at the last 16 stage. In other words the farcical draw in 2023 means that Scotland are still being punished for their showing in RWC 2019 and this may last at least until 2027.

I hope for Justice sakes they make the top 6.

3 Go to comments
B
BigGabe 7 hours ago
'Rugby is kind of at a junction here': Henry Pollock on rugby values

I never said that you can’t have an opinion, please go back and read carefully what I have said. I disagree with your opinion, as I disagree with your response. Again, and I emphasise this point, I do not equate Pollock’s actions with abuse and humiliation. You’re using very strong words and I cannot see his actions being humiliating or abusive. Now if he called him names and told him to go the f*** back home, then that’s a different story. But he didn’t, he just gave a celebration like many players around the world do.


Of course, there is the slippery slope argument - which is fair, there can and probabl should be be limits on what a player should be able to do. But winding people up? That’s sport. It always has been and always will be - emotions can and will be manipulated. If we can’t do that, then it’s not sport. It’s called gaining a psychological edge. We are all well aware of the dark arts of rugby and it’s an accepted part of the game. There is no reason a celebration cannot be either.


My belief is that you’re immediately going to a worst case scenario and trying to nip this behaviour in the bud, which is unnecessary. He’s having fun and kids look up to that. Combine that with the respect that the vast majority of professional rugby players show, and you have a winning formula. See my original comment regarding him getting his ass handed to him at some stage or another. Maybe even this very weekend. But to say that Pollock is abusive and humiliating? Calm down, he’s just a talented kid having a good time.

20 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg suffers further career blow Stuart Hogg suffers further career blow
Search