If there were any rumours of Robbie Henshaw’s demise, or even thoughts along those lines, it seems they were premature.
Overlooked for both the Lions tour and Ireland’s autumnal opener against New Zealand at Soldier Field – where his try had sealed the deal on that historic breakthrough win nine years ago – Henshaw has quickly put those disappointments behind him.
In a role reversal from much of the last decade, Henshaw benefited from Stuart McCloskey’s groin injury to deliver a very strong, solid game at inside centre against Japan. He backed that up with an equally energetic display at outside centre in the absence of Garry Ringrose against Australia.
Now his form looks sure to have him involved against South Africa in an almighty finale to the Autumn Nations Series at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 5.40pm).
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Every cloud and all that. Although Henshaw was injured after the squad was picked, missing out on a second Lions tour still hurt, especially when 18 Irish teammates were chosen. But he’s used that setback as a positive.
“It was tough,” he admits. “I’d have loved to have been there, especially having been there in South Africa and not experiencing the full Lions experience with Covid. The timing with injury, bits like that didn’t help.
“But it gave me a good reset in terms of where I want to go with my game, how I want to move forward this season and beyond. Focusing on myself, I enjoyed preseason and the last few weeks.”
It’s easy to forget that Henshaw is still only 32. He won the first of his 84 caps four days before his 20th birthday against the USA in June 2013. He’s still three years younger than Bundee Aki and a year younger than McCloskey, while two years older than Ringrose.
Nor are the young pretenders muscling their way into the long-established midfield mix. Now in his 13th season as an Irish international, and centrally contracted for another two years, Henshaw has reminded us in the last two games that he still has plenty to offer.
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“Definitely, there’s more to give for me playing-wise and helping guys as well,” he says. “That’s a big part of it, to help guys come through and to lead. I’ve been challenged in different ways like that. How can we bring it forward together? Not only on the pitch, but off it.”
A theme expressed by another thirtysomething, Jack Conan, in the aftermath of last Saturday’s biggest-ever win over Australia, was the need to enjoy such occasions more.
“When you get to play in games like that you pinch yourself about the team you’re playing in and what you’re playing for as well. You never take for granted stepping on to the pitch with Ireland. It’s incredible.”
Putting together back-to-back 80-minute-plus performances had the additional reward of him gathering Jamison Gibson-Park’s crosskick in the 81st minute – the game’s last play – and sliding in by the corner flag.
“Yeah, it was nice to get a score. I haven’t scored in a while,” he admits, a tad sheepishly. “So yeah, it was nice. I thought I was going to get caught in the corner but, thankfully, I wasn’t.”
The try ended a run of 20 Tests without scoring which dated back to the Grand Slam coronation at home to England in March 2023. No better man than Gibson-Park for the skilful assist.
“I was giving him a hand signal,” says Henshaw, recalling the move. “There was a bit of space. So, thanks to him for being a heads-up rugby player and he’s able to do class things off-the-cuff; coming on at 15 and just playing ball was unbelievable to see.”
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Henshaw confirmed that Andy Farrell had challenged the players before last Saturday’s game to put right some of the wrongs in the matches against New Zealand and Japan.
“I think it was a good stepping stone, but there’s definitely loads more in us,” he added, looking ahead to Saturday’s meeting with the world champions.
Henshaw cited Ireland’s territorial game and lineout, on both throws, as strong platforms for their 46-19 win and added: “We were calm, we weren’t too frantic. Last week we were a bit frantic in attack.”
In what he described as a more “rounded performance”, he added: “It was great to see us having the balls to play wide and take the space when it was there.”
That said, Henshaw echoed the coach’s belief that a repeat performance will not be sufficient on Saturday.
“We conceded quite easily in the first half in that second 20 minutes when they got a roll on. So, with what’s coming next, it’s more of that up-front physicality and big men running down our channels.
“We need to meet them on the gainline and front up. That’s something we’ll have to look at, our physicality around the fringes and stopping their momentum.”
