In-form Stockdale a 'very different' player to 2018

Fully fit, confident and playing with a smile on his face, Jacob Stockdale believes he has found form by focusing on his strengths, rather than his weaknesses.

The 28-year-old scored two tries in Ulster's win over the Ospreys on Friday night and now has 13 since the start of last season, more than he managed through the four injury-plagued seasons prior.

His recent run has led many to talk of the winger rolling back the years to 2018, an incredible 12 months when he was named Player of the Championship in the Six Nations thanks to a record-setting scoring streak before providing a famous try to beat the All Blacks in Dublin.

The man himself feels he is a "very different" player now to the one he was then.

"I suppose everyone regards my best form as 2018, but that was six years ago now.

"I'm a very different player to the player I was back then. I've different strengths and different weaknesses.

"About a year ago I decided to focus on stuff I was good at and really go after that. I'd got away from that, I think.

"Obviously, you still have to train the stuff you're not great at so they're not weaknesses, but focusing on the things that might stand me apart from another winger is something I've been going after and I think it's paid dividends for me."

Having become an Ireland starter at the end of what was his first full season as an Ulster regular, he believes he is not just a different player, but a different person to when he made such a memorable early international breakthrough.

"I’m married with two kids now and how I interact with guys in the squad is very different to how I used to do it.

"I think, like everybody does, you grow between the ages of 22 and 28 and I’m hoping I continue to keep growing."

While his chip and chase score against the Bulls this month was viewed as a sign that things were once again breaking his way, Stockdale believes that having the confidence to try such things is more indicative of his current mindset than whether they do or do not come off.

"A lot of it is the bounce of a ball. Rugby balls are a strange shape, sometimes they kick up, sometimes they don't," he said.

"It's big in terms of making those plays and feeling like you can go after it and push the boat out a wee bit in terms of risky plays.

"Scoring those kinds of tries gives you the confidence to be able to do that and confidence is nine tenths of performance."

With Andy Farrell set to name his Ireland squad for next month's four Test matches on Wednesday, Stockdale is expected to be included in the panel for games against New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia.

Whether he can displace Leinster's James Lowe on the left wing for what would be a first cap since before the last World Cup will be another matter.

Either way, Stockdale feels he has done all he can to put himself in the frame

"Whether I play or not, obviously I want to, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t really matter to a certain degree as I’m doing what I can out on the pitch at the moment.

"I feel like I’m doing everything I can to warrant getting an opportunity.

"If it doesn’t come, it doesn’t come but I’m feeling good."

Indeed, perhaps the only way he could be preparing for Ireland camp in a better frame of mind would be if he was coming in off a career hat-trick.

Between his first and second scores against Ospreys on Friday night, he had dotted down once more only to have the try chalked off by the TMO for a forward pass after both the conversion and restart.

"I was a bit unhappy, to say the least," he said.

"It seems a bit crazy to me to hit the conversion and hit the restart and then get brought back for the TMO.

"Where does it end? Is it going to be at a point where we're 15 minutes later and someone says, 'oh, that try you scored earlier doesn't count anymore'.

"I don't know, fair enough if it's forward, but it needs to be called earlier."