Rugby: Ireland international Jacob Stockdale reveals he received death threats after All Blacks defeat

Ireland's Jacob Stockdale with New Zealand's Sevu Reece. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Ireland rugby international Jacob Stockdale has revealed the vile abuse he received on social media after his nation's Rugby World Cup exit at the hands of the All Blacks.

The All Blacks ended Ireland's run at last year's tournament with a 46-14 victory in a high-anticipated quarter-final match-up.

Stockdale told the Irish Times that after the loss, fans came at him on Twitter including a death threat.

"You get certain messages, private messages and stuff that are incredibly hurtful or aggressive," the winger said.

"After the New Zealand quarter-final I got messages from people telling me to kill myself and things like that, which is obviously awful.

"For me whenever I was reading those messages, they didn't annoy me as much because I knew these people were trolls and they were just trying to get a reaction out of me. I'm sure . . . I'd hope they didn't actually mean what they were saying.

"Funny enough the ones that really annoyed me were the ones where people were saying that I wasn't any good at rugby.

"They were frustrating because I felt they didn't know as much about rugby as I did. It felt that they really meant it [the criticism] and those would be the ones that would annoy me more than the people messaging me and telling me to top myself."