The winger has been named in the Ulster starting side that travels to Treviso for a must-win URC clash with Benetton. Stockdale came through 40 minutes in last week’s friendly against the Queensland Reds and is named in a backline that also includes Stuart McCloskey and James Hume, who return from enforced layoffs. Stockdale has used his time off the pitch to good effect and has returned bigger and physically stronger as Ulster try to lift themselves from ninth place in the URC into the playoffs. “I’ve put a wee bit of weight on and I kind of feel like it’s good for me, and I think that physicality is something I benefit from a lot,” Stockdale said. “In terms of the rehab it’s very much individual led. The physios’ main goal is bringing you back at 100 percent fitness and robust. It’s probably down to the individual if you decide ‘right, during this injury I want to shed a bit of weight and really go after pace or fitness or strength’. “A lot of lads when they get injured want to stay exactly the same and come back the way they were, but for me I just felt like there was scope to put on a bit of size and a bit of strength and I felt I went after that pretty well. “It can be a wee bit tricky at times, especially when you’re not running and just being in the gym – it can be easy for the weight to shoot up and you can put on a bit of fat, which I might have done a wee bit but it’s just… making sure you’re not getting too carried away and bringing a bit of balance to it as well.” Stockdale believes there is no blueprint for the modern winger. “The heavier you are the slightly slower you’re going to be but I don’t think it’s had much of a noticeable effect on me so far, and I feel I can still put the hammer down when I need to,” he added. “I don’t think there is a particular or right formula about being a professional modern winger; I think everybody has to have a point of difference and mine has always been physicality and the more I can push that the better. “The likes of Cheslin Kolbe or Mikey (Lowry), they’re guys who beat you on the ground by stepping you inside-out which I’ve learnt from both of them a couple of times. “Different guys are good at different things and for me I just felt I’m going to go after this strength stuff.” While body sizes of wingers may differ, their role on the pitch hasn’t fundamentally changed but Stockdale thinks it is important to develop as an all round player. “I think it’s fundamentally the same, you still have to score tries and catch high balls,” he said. “But I think one thing that has really evolved in being a winger over the last three or four years is that you have to be a ball player. “You have to get out the back of shapes, step into first receiver, be another centre/full-back and I don’t think it’s good enough anymore to just be the fella that stands on the edge and tries to beat a defender and score. “You need to be able to do it all and if you look at any modern winger, all of them can do that now and it was a bit of a learning curve for me in terms of going to look for work a bit more.” Ulster: (15-9) S Moore; M Lowry, J Hume, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; A Morgan, N Doak; (1-8) J Boyd, R Herring, T O’Toole; A O’Connor (c), C Izuchukwu; Matty Rea, N Timoney, D McCann. Replacements: J Andrew, B O’Connor, S Wilson, K Treadwell, R Crothers, D Shanahan, J Flannery, J Postlethwaite.