Jacob Stockdale sparks dust-up with dismissive gesture before scoring a cracker

You could never accuse Jacob Stockdale in lacking confidence.

The Ulster and Ireland winger is having one hell of a season and enjoying the increase in pressure and attention that comes with it. While he had a couple of defensive blips in the humbling PRO14 loss to Leinster, last weekend, he kept on going until the end and was rewarded with a consolation try. Against La Rochelle, at Kingspan Stadium today, he was in the thick of it again. The 21-year-old was needed in a defensive capacity for the opening 25 minutes as the French side tore into their hosts. However, when Charles Piutau was bumped mid-air by Paul Jordaan, Ulster had a man advantage to play with. Piutau could see Jordaan coming and turned his back after claiming a high ball, before hitting the deck hard. Stockdale was first Ulsterman on the scene and he sparked a dust-up by dismissively patting the South African on the head.

Got to love @JacobStockdale 'defusing' the situation by patting a grown man on the head #ULSvLAR pic.twitter.com/kYJUPKph0f

— Gareth Hanna (@GarethHanna11) January 13, 2018

That action, and Jordaan's initial indiscretion, sparked a dust-up involving 20 players from both sides before referee Wayne Barnes and his officials calmed matters. Stockdale then did what he does so terribly, destructively well - shift into gear, shrug off tackles and score tries. Minutes after Rory Best got his team's side of the scoreboard ticking with a nice try, Stockdale brushed off two La Rochelle defenders to craft a try out of nowhere. https://twitter.com/JamesQuinn87/status/952175288506515456 https://twitter.com/paddy_de/status/952173744709087232 https://twitter.com/alexshawsport/status/952173498956476417 https://twitter.com/AlanDymock/status/952173634889580545 The young lad is loving life at the top.