Ireland send home two players including the specialist-needing Jacob Stockdale
Ireland's Jacob Stockdale
Two Ireland players – including the injured Jacob Stockdale – have returned home following Saturday’s win over Georgia in Tbilisi and won’t be involved in next weekend’s match away to Portugal.
Stockdale was a first-half casualty in the 34-5 win against Richard Cockerill’s Rugby Europe champions, picking up his second campaign-ending injury in the 2024/25 international season.
Chosen to start last November versus Fiji, a first cap in 15 months after an appearance versus Samoa was followed by his omission from the 2023 Rugby World Cup squad, Stockdale pulled up lame early in the second half in Dublin with a hamstring issue and missed the remainder of the Autumn Nations Series.
It wasn’t until mid-February that he returned to the fold with Ulster, by which stage his chances of featuring in the 2025 Six Nations with Ireland had gone, and his summer tour has now also been ended by injury.
‘Has returned to Ireland to see a specialist next week…’
Interim Ireland boss Paul O’Connell named Stockdale to start on the wing in Tbilisi, but his early promise in that match was dashed by another injury setback and he will now miss the second and final match of Ireland’s tour.
Joining him in missing out on the Portugal leg of the trip is fellow Ulster player Scott Wilson, but there was a better update regarding Cian Prendergast after his recent illness.
A statement read: “The Ireland squad arrived in Lisbon on Sunday night ahead of next weekend’s Test match against Portugal. Cian Prendergast has recovered from illness and will be available for selection this week.
“However, winger Jacob Stockdale (AC) has been ruled out of the Portugal fixture and has returned to Ireland to see a specialist next week.
“He will be joined by Scott Wilson, who had been called up as cover for the Georgia game. There are no further injury concerns arising from the 34-5 victory over Georgia on Saturday. The team versus Portugal will be named on Thursday morning.”
