"He's comin' home, he's comin' home, he's coming; Hendo's coming home.

He's comin' home, he's comin' home, he's coming; Hendo's coming home."

Defeat for Wasps hasn't dampened Rob Henderson's spirits on his homecoming. His sweat-soaked shirt is a by-product of an impromptu set as lead singer in the resident band for a hearty rendition of four numbers, ending with Oasis' Champagne Supernova.

As the crowd roars their approval, it seems there might be the beginning of a tear swelling in his eye as a pint of the black stuff is thrust into his palm. You'd never guess, but underneath the powerful, straightrunning centre he's a big softie at heart.

Even if you didn't know him from Adam or Willie Duggan, it's pretty clear that, professional rugby player though he is, spiritually Henderson belongs a little to the old school. He is a liver of life and with his birthday striking at midnight, Henderson has plenty of old London Irish friends to ring in his new year.

Later on, amazingly, all the many London Irish bars close at a ridiculously early hour, despite the English champions having been thrillingly beaten earlier that day. So a host of former team-mates follow Henderson to his local which is adjacent to Teddington train station.

By the time he's officially turned 25, Henderson is still in full voice, back in his house with his girlfriend Angie and the Irish Times interloper. Henderson's feet point skyward on the sofa and his head rests on a bean bag placed on the wooden floor of his living-room.

Homecomings are high on his agenda this month, for next Saturday week he will almost certainly make his second appearance for Ireland against the All Blacks, virtually a year to the day after his first against Western Samoa. He remembers November 16th as a personal nightmare, one which came at a time when his form was at a low ebb.

"When you go into a game you've got to feel on top of your game and feel that everyone around you can depend on you. But, sadly, on the night I didn't. I'm a very big selfcritic and all I know is that hopefully I'll play against the All Blacks, I'm playing well at the moment and things will be different.

"Knowing how much better I can play, and knowing how much better Ireland can play, whets my appetite. I know that myself and the team and the whole country can do so much better than we are at the moment."

He compounded his less than auspicious international start by neglecting to return his fitness chart to the Irish team phsyiotherapist Andy Clarke, not the cutest of moves in the Murray Kidd era. "Due to my own laziness I didn't do it and I lost out. I didn't go to the Algarve and as a result wasn't included in the Five Nations. If I could turn the clock back, obviously I would do, but I can't now. It's the biggest mistake I've ever made."

You sense he's a little nervous already, and no amount of assurances can convince him he'll definitely be playing against the All Blacks even though his must now be one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Ironically, if the truth be told, the turnaround started with the move away from London Irish to Wasps mid-way through last season. He needed a fresh challenge and so well did he respond to it that four English Sunday newspapers made him the sole Irish player on the First Division team of the season.

On the sink or swim Development tour of New Zealand, Henderson became the rock around which the Irish back-line was built, and, along with David Erskine, was the only player who could consistently beat the gain line and match the New Zealanders in the physical stakes. His reputation was restored and continuing good form makes his return inevitable.

However long the second cap has taken, the route to the first was particularly circuitous. "Never used to play rugby," he begins, cryptically. "Always used to play football. Had a trial with Wimbledon.

"My parents had split up by then. My dad's Scottish, my mum's Irish. I was then asked to come down and watch a game of rugby by a friend of mine." You can almost guess the rest. "I turned up. They were one short, so I played, scored a few tries and they said `why not come down and play for us?'."

Originally from Dover before his parents moved to London, Henderson was 16 at the time and had once played rugby half-heartedly for one year at Tiffin Grammar School. But he answered the call from Kingston RFC, who used to play under-age games against near neighbours London Irish.

"After two years of that, Boxty McAuliffe (a London Irish devotee), asked me if I wanted to come down and play for London Irish and I said `why not?'. I went down and played in the under-21 team and then six months in the seconds team."

The Irish credentials had already been established, his mother having hailed from Monegar. "As soon as I started playing rugby and I was living with my mother, the one thing I could do for my mum was play for Ireland. So the desire was there all along basically."

He played on the wing for a bit, but mostly at centre for the following six years on the senior London Irish team. "They thought I was too unfit to play in the pack and not quick enough to play on the wing," he says, self-deprecatingly.

Can he remember his debut? "I can actually. It was the day after the Lewis-Bruno fight, because I can remember watching the fight in the Red Lyon in Teddington and got to bed about 2.00 in the morning. Got to the ground the next day and I saw Bristol had a big fat centre (he was bigger and fatter than I ever was) called Dean Ring.

"Bristol won that day 16-0. We had a move called pig dog, under Hikka Reid who was the coach of London Irish at the time, which was bringing me, the big fattie, off the wing to try and bash a big hole through the middle."

With the arrival of Clive Woodward, still revered among London Irish players and especially backs, Henderson's game evolved, although others are credited with being big influences.

"John McFarland, the seconds London Irish coach, was very good with people and a good coach and Dean Shelford, a New Zealand trialist in the centre, passed on his enthusiasm." Difficulties with one individual - himself now departed as well - were the "main reason I left London Irish." However, they were generally good years, save for a ruptured appendix prior to a club tour of New Zealand which detained him in a Vancouver hospital for five days.

"Aside from that, playing in the first division with London Irish, even though we got relegated, and after that getting promoted from Division Two. I mean we played so well that year, that we would have beaten half the teams in the first division."

Modesty forbids Henderson from mentioning that he was a key component, trailing only Conor O'Shea with nine of London Irish's 62 tries in 18 league games - aside from their run to the Pilkington Cup semifinal - under the progressive coaching of Woodward.

"If you look back, everybody's playing like that now but we had the confidence to do it then and we weren't professional. We played some great rugby and scored the second most amount of points in the four Courage leagues."

Meantime, steady progression through the representative step-ladder continued until that fateful debut against Western Samoa - since when three things have helped to rejuvenate his career, he says.

"I changed club, I moved house and I met the girl that I was going to marry. I would love to have played for Willie Anderson - he's got lots of ideas and he knows his tactics as well. But, no disrespect to them, but I felt I was going stale at London Irish, and for years I have been moving from pillar to post before buying a house. And I met a lovely girl." Angie cringes.

Now, you sense he's more content in himself and much better prepared for his second chance. "For me, being 25 and getting my second cap, it would mean a lot to me. To be honest it would mean everything to me. That's a lot different from guys coming in at 20 and thinking by the time they're 25 they're going to have at least 15 caps.

"Because the game has changed totally. If I'm sitting here in four years time with 20 caps then that will make me one of the great players of Irish rugby.

"You see, in four years time you'll be talking to 22 and 23-year-olds. I just think the game has changed so dramatically that the age of rugby players has dropped by five years. The days of being 32 or 33 in the back-line have gone. Twenty-seven nowadays, I think you're history.

"So I've got two years left to make a name for myself, to stake a claim that I am one of the best centres that Ireland has produced and I'm hoping to do that."

Henderson is noted for his physical presence, and once, perhaps to his own regret, cited Mark Hughes as a kindred spirit of sorts.

"What I actually said was `I don't mind the physical contact and I don't mind hurting people as long as its legal.' I might not have the silky skills of Serevi, I might not have the lightening pace of Campese but at the same time I think I've got far more to offer the game than the majority of people that are playing at the moment."

It's not a bravura statement. He is self-critical but, like all good players, he knows it; they have to. Now he has a ghost to exorcise and, especially for those who've only seen him once, you hope he succeeds. You really do.

"Shamrocks on the shirt, Hendo's eyes still gleaming.

Shamrocks on the shirt, still can't stop him leaving."

Rob Henderson

Born: October 27th, 1972 in New Malden.

Height: 6' 1".

Weight: 16st 4lbs.

Position: Centre.

Favourite players: Brendan Mullin and Jeremy Guscott.

Clubs: Kingston (1989-92), London Irish (92-96), Wasps.

Representative honours: Ireland under-21s, the Exiles (scoring a try against Munster within two minutes of his debut), Ireland A (again scoring a try on his debut against Wales). Ireland (1 cap).