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Published 12:08 2 Dec 2017 GMT
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"He always stood out in fairness. He's a big winger, who's got great feet. He's fast. All the attributes you look for really."Stockdale returned to Ulster last Sunday evening and eased himself back into light training with the province ahead of their packed diary of festive fixtures. Teammate Andrew Trimble, on The Hard Yards, spoke of how the 21-year-old returned with a renewed vigour [from 41:00 below]. Stockdale's attitude to training has, if anything, improved from an already impressive stance. "Seeing Jacob doing so well comes as no surprise to any of us, really," Trimble begins.
"Having seen him in bits and pieces last season, he showed he was ready to kick on and grow into himself, or become the kind of player that he had been talked of potentially becoming. He bided his time, got his chance and he's taken it. He has backed it up a good few times already this season."While the Ulster youngster may be getting praise for his try-scoring exploits, his all-round game has been excellent for Ireland. We all remember that crunching defensive hit on South Africa's Dillyn Leyds, in the opening Guinness Series fixture. And this kick-chase and driving tackle against Argentina summed up his 10/10 performance.
The temptation may be for Stockdale to stick to what has got him into the Ulster and Ireland starting teams. However, Trimble says he is working even harder to add more to his game.
"If you saw him running around during the summer, playing conditioning games, looking so fit, fast and powerful. He's a serious athlete. "And then when you see him on the pitch, he's got a bit of nous as well and he plays the game well. It doesn't surprise any of us really and, off the pitch, he is as humble now as he was a few years ago. So, good to see."Stockdale should get the chance to put all the hard training to good use when Ulster go back-to-back with Harlequins in a crucial phase of Champions Cup rugby.
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