Stuart McCloskey had to wait seven years between his first and second Six Nations appearances and the Ireland centre revealed he considered moving abroad during his international exile.
McCloskey was one of three debutants when Ireland travelled to Twickenham in the 2016 Six Nations. The other two were Josh van der Flier and Ultan Dillane, with the former since becoming a pivotal player for both province and country while the latter won 19 caps before departing for La Rochelle last summer.
McCloskey performed well in that 21-10 loss to England but any hopes of becoming a first-team regular quickly evaporated. He made just five appearances over the next five years, with all of them coming against tier-two opposition, and missed out on selection for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
During that time McCloskey developed into a key player for Ulster, but his lack of opportunities with Ireland made him consider a move abroad. It was his wife, Hannah, who convinced him to stay put and keep believing in himself.
"It's a very clichéd answer but I suppose Hannah has been with me since the start," said the 30-year-old.
"She’d be the one when I was disheartened by the whole thing at times and thinking about going away and playing in different places, but felt that if I stuck at it maybe I would get a chance, and I’d regret it if I did go. It’s turned out alright.
"How close was I to going away? Not very, very close. There were definitely times when I did think about it but Ulster have been brilliant to me over the years so it wasn’t just about Ireland, it was Ulster as well."
The absence of Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki saw McCloskey handed a chance against South Africa in November and he has held onto the No 12 shirt since. Saturday's win over Wales was his fourth consecutive Ireland start as he finally tasted Six Nations action again.
"Listen there were definitely in those seven years when I didn’t think I would ever get another game," he said.
"I was pretty close just before Covid hit. I was in the team on the Monday to play France [in 2020] before Covid hit and I thought that was a chance I probably wouldn’t get again.
"I’ve been playing well, it’s not like I haven’t been playing well in the last seven years for club, so I thought if I just kept persevering, digging in, that eventually I would get a chance.
"The two guys did brilliantly when they were in there so I couldn’t really overly complain too much, they were both starting for the Lions at one stage and they were playing at 12 ahead of me.
"Listen, it’s been hard, I can’t say it hasn’t been hard at times, but it’s nice to get that monkey off my back."
Ireland flew out of the traps in Cardiff, with McCloskey throwing a lovely cut-out pass to release James Lowe down the wing early on. Three tries in the opening quarter effectively put the result to bed as Ireland ended their decade-long wait for a Six Nations win at the Principality Stadium.
"It’s always nice to get into the game, whether it’s a big tackle or a good carry," said McCloskey. "The pass was on and I saw the space there to get the ball into James’s hands and, in that area of the pitch, he has a good kicking game. He put the pressure on and we scored eventually. It was nice to get into the game that way.
"Three tries in 21 minutes was pretty great and I thought we should have had another try when we were one metre out from their line. We should have got the ball on that blindside a bit quicker but momentum ebbs and flows at times doesn’t it?
"They were always going to come back into game and it was just whether we could withstand it, especially when they’re at home here. There were a lot of positives to take from it."
Aki impressed when introduced for McCloskey on the hour mark while Henshaw could return from injury in time for Saturday’s crunch showdown with France, but the Ulsterman is hopeful he can hold onto the No 12 shirt.
"I’d love to be playing yeah but obviously I’ll just wait and see how next week’s training goes. Hopefully I’ll be in."
Watch live coverage of Ireland v France on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Saturday from 1.15pm (kick-off 2.15pm).
