It’s rare to see a player sign a contract extension so early, but after a Six Nations campaign where he established himself as one of Ireland’s key players, and was nominated for Player of the Championship, Stuart McCloskey decided to strike while the iron was hot.
“I had to pull a few strings,” the Ulster centre laughed, when asked about his recent extension at the province, which will keep him in Irish Rugby until the summer of 2028.
The 33-year-old still had a full year to go on his current deal, which runs out next summer, but with a World Cup to Australia on the horizon, he was keen to make sure his future was secure for the 2027 tournament.
“It seemed like the right thing to do. I never really wanted to leave.
“I didn’t want to get down in to a situation, I wasn’t contracted for the World Cup and I obviously really want to play and go to the World Cup, hopefully, and perform to the status when I do go.
“I did the whole thing last time where I was going to go to France, stopped about, made a big meal of it.
“I got a contract but I didn’t really fancy doing that again so Bestie [Ulster general manager Rory Best] was great, we got sorted early, I think everybody was happy.”
He’s at a stage in his career where every new contract will bring a question of whether or not it will be his last.
Thankfully, he doesn’t have to think about that for a while.
Stuart McCloskey starts for Ireland at inside centre
“Just wait and see. I’ll be 35 then so if I still feel like I’m feeling alright I’ll gladly play on for as long as possible.
“I wouldn’t walk away from something that’s so special easily but we’ll see how the next year and a half go and start making the decision then.” he added.
On Saturday, McCloskey will win his 30th cap in a Test career that has already spanned 10 years.
While he won his first cap under Joe Schmidt, his face never really fit under the former Ireland head coach, and he would only add another two caps before Andy Farrell’s arrival in 2020.
The last three seasons have seen him become a regular in the side, particularly as a big gainline winner and tackle-breaker in midfield, while this year he has taken his performances to another level, and has been the most consistent performer in Irish rugby in 2026.
While he always backed his ability, he admits it hasn’t always been quite at the level as it has this year.
“I’m definitely playing the best rugby now that I’ve ever played.
“I’ve said this to a couple of guys earlier, I think this will be hopefully my 30th cap this weekend, and I’ve only lost two games under Faz [Farrell] at least, so I think most of the time I’ve played for Ireland, it’s always went pretty well.
Stuart McCloskey (r) celebrates last week’s win against Australia with Thomas Clarkson
“It’s just the guys in front, like Bundee [Aki], Robbie [Henshaw], Ringer [Garry Ringrose], you put them down in the top three, probably five or six Irish centres ever, so trying to get past them is always going to be tough.
“I think when I’ve went into the jersey I’ve done a fairly good job, I played that Grand Slam year [2023], started the first three games and then got injured, Bundee nearly got world player of the year after I got injured, so it was a tough one to get past.”
How then has his game elevated to such heights, approaching his mid-30s?
“I suppose I’m a lot different person at 33 now than I was when I was 23, I try not to take it all too seriously.
“That is a lot easier to do when you’re a bit older and you’ve seen most of the things before and you realise it’s not the end of the world if you lose a game or if you make a mistake.
“You have to get over it pretty quickly and on the field there’s no point in sort of worrying about things that have happened.
“Like, at the weekend I think I missed a tackle, it ended up being a linebreak, they scored, but the next play I ended up making a big break down the middle, so it’s trying to be a goldfish in a way and try to have that back of memory of all the bad things and just keep going, so that’s what I try to do. And I think with the age it’s become easier.”
McCloskey (above) is one of just six players retained in the starting team to face Japan tomorrow, as Ireland look to make it two wins out of two in the Nations Championship before turning their attention to New Zealand in Auckland next week.
As thrilling as the 33-31 win against the Wallabies was, Ireland were vulnerable defensively, particularly in the first half where they gave up eight linebreaks in the opening 28 minutes, and were 24-12 behind before a sensational comeback.
And the centre says there have been some harsh discussions about their defending in the days since.
“I suppose a lot of guys were playing their first game together for a few months, come from different systems, but at the end of the day I missed a tackle. That’s just a missed tackle. It’s not a system error.
“We were on different pages, guys trying to solve things when it wasn’t going well, maybe not just going back to the plan that we’d said we’d do, which felt like when we got there at half time we actually spoke about it.
“We came out in the second half, we were a lot better at it.
“We put ourselves under pressure with the way we attacked as well, we probably gave them the ball up in areas they could attack, whereas the second half I thought Jammo [Gibson-Par] and Sam [Prendergast] put us in the right areas of the field, really put them under pressure.
“It was fixed up pretty quickly but it did feel like a tough first 35 minutes,” he said.
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