These days in sport, money talks. From LIV Golf swiping all of the sport’s top talents with its mega-bucks deals to footballers moving to Saudi Arabia or China chasing one final payday before they hang up the boots, the lure of a few extra zeroes on the bank account is rather appealing.
Even in the last month we’ve seen that creeping into rugby, too; reports of a LIV-style competition being started in the United States, with £700k per year salaries floated for those willing to sign up. If the rumours are to be believed, several international-calibre stars have done so already.
It is life-changing money, of course. Rugby stars, even the best of them, cannot retire on their career earnings alone and the vast majority have to embark on post-playing careers, unlike their counterparts in football or golf or across the water in the United States. So that makes the prospect of making more money where they can all the more appealing.
So when faced with his own French offer, Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey weighed it up long and hard. Bayonne’s interest in the Ireland international wasn’t much of a secret, and McCloskey’s desire to at least investigate the prospect of a stint in the Pyrenees wasn’t hidden either.
In the end, the heart won out over the money on offer. In September, the Bangor man signed on the dotted line for another two years at Ravenhill, taking him up to 2027 with his home province and, to date, the only club he has known.
“It was good to get it all sorted. You don’t want to leave but you want to get the value you think you deserve, so both sides were happy in the end, I hope. I’ll be around for another few years and we’ll see how we go,” says McCloskey.
“It’s the place as well, I love it here. As much as playing in France would be nice, I wouldn’t really care as much as I would here. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to go.
“Part of you obviously does because you’re making a bit of money, but I didn’t want to be that guy who’s just there picking up a cheque.
“I actually really enjoy playing here and I enjoy working hard to progress to a goal. While that goal for us this year is making top-eight rather than trying to win it like two or three years ago, I do think we have the young talent here to go forward and do it. Whether that’s this year or in a few years, I don’t know, but I do think we have the young talent to do it.”
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Stuart McCloskey admits Ulster will have to work hard to contain Toulouse this weekend
While things with Ulster are a decidedly longer-term prospect for McCloskey, he still hasn’t shut the door on playing a larger role for Ireland over the next few years now that he has ensured he will stay in Andy Farrell’s plans moving forward.
It was another frustrating Autumn window for the 32-year-old, who was limited to game time only in their tussle with Fiji when Farrell rotated his squad somewhat as he continues to struggle to break through the established trio of Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose.
That is down to no fault of McCloskey’s own; in another Irish era, you could argue he would have a large handful of caps to his name as a strong ball-carrying option at inside centre rather than being the infrequent contributor he has been. But just because his role has been limited and he is now in the latter stages of his career doesn’t mean the Ulsterman has ruled out hope of getting hold of that No.12 jersey for a string of games.
“I would have loved to have played a bit more. I suppose I’ll tell you the same thing as always, lads there were playing quite well and I have to bide my time,” continues McCloskey.
“It does get frustrating after a while. Would have loved to have played a bit more. I thought I did well when I came on against Fiji but it’s the same old story. I’ll see how well I do over these next six weeks ahead of the Six Nations and hopefully push my way into the team.
“I know I haven’t played a lot for Ireland down the years but I’ve been down in camp a lot and it’s a great environment and I do love being there, don’t get me wrong. It is nice to get back and play a bit more rugby here and hopefully push my case going forward for the Ireland jersey.
“I think I still have a good few years in me yet, so I’ll put my best foot forward here.”
That starts against Toulouse on Sunday, McCloskey’s first game back for Ulster since the Autumn Internationals being a blockbuster Champions Cup tie against the defending European and Top14 Champions at the Stade Ernest-Wallon (Storm Darragh pending).
The challenge is mighty when you consider the weapons at Toulouse’s disposal. In the centre alone, McCloskey could come up against any combination of Pita Ahki, Pierre-Louis Barassi, Santiago Chocobares or Paul Costes, all of whom are internationals, not to mention the world class players outside of the midfield, including Antoine Dupont.
“I don’t think you can completely stop them. You can contain them,” concedes McCloskey.
“They’ve broken down the best teams in the world. For us, it’s about staying in the fight, not letting them score easy tries and making them work for every point they have, make them score on the edge and not go through us. Make our tackles, secure a few turnovers and then hitting them because we will have chances.
“I don’t think this will be one of those games where we can win scoring 10, 15 points. We’re going to have to score 30 or 40, so we need to play our game too.”
Ultimately, it will also be about growing for this young Ulster squad, too; another step in the right direction on their way to what hopefully will be a future where they are going to Toulouse not in hope but in expectation.
“The quality’s definitely higher,” points out McCloskey. “It’s probably a different style, as well. Playing Leinster, Munster, Connacht are quite structured, we play a very similar way. The French, it’s wider passes, getting the ball out to great athletes who want to be in space early. It’s a different style of rugby and a better quality of player all around the field.
“You want to test yourself against the best and when I was 22 or 23, this was the highest level I played before international, so this is what you want to be playing every week.”