Hendo answers
As his director of rugby Les Kiss dryly noted after the 19-9 win over Wasps on Friday night, Iain Henderson’s captaincy record now stands at 100%.
A senior figure around Kingspan, a 32-times capped Irish international and, as of last summer, a British and Irish Lion, the pivotal European victory was still the very first time the 25-year-old had been named skipper for his province.
And it was a rarity not just in his senior career but going back all the way to his early teens. Conor Spence, now a scrumhalf for Malone, captained Henderson’s Belfast Royal Academy side to the Schools’ Cup final in 2010, leaving the lock going deep into the memory bank to recall when he was last handed the proverbial armband.
“I’m not sure Les wants to hear this but the last time was probably junior rugby in school,” he said of his leadership CV with some amusement after seeing off the English visitors.
With Rory Best yet to debut this season thanks to a hamstring injury, Chris Henry out for last week at least with a larynx problem, and Andrew Trimble finding himself outside the matchday 23 over the last fortnight, Henderson became Kiss’s fourth skipper of season in the important win.
But, if the man with a noted fondness for sleep and dubbed “llama” by his one time Ireland team-mate Donnacha O’Callaghan, hasn’t always seemed like your typical captain, this was no case of last man standing.
For some time, he’s been seen as the most likely successor to Rory Best when the indefatigable hooker eventually hangs up his boots.
“He’s somebody that has a
load of talent but, potentially to take the next step, he has to take more of a leadership role,” said Best himself recently.
“We’ve seen him calling line-outs now, something that people 12 or 18 months ago would have said would never happen, but now he’s done it in a massive games for Ireland and for the Lions. Now he has to take another step.”
And while there may have been an occasion or two on Friday when it took a second to register that it was indeed his decision that the game was waiting for, he took that initial step confidently.
In a contest that had been punctuated only by penalties, the hosts were trailing 9-3 when a shrill blast of Ben Whitehouse’s whistle had him weighing up his options — whether to play for the try or just cut the deficit.
Without too much deliberation, there was a nod towards the corner.
Fortune on this occasion favoured the brave, Charles Piutau and Jacob Stockdale creating the score that, while not pushing Ulster into the lead, swung momentum decidedly in their direction.
“When you watch a game and see a team make a decision like that on TV or from an outsider’s point of view you can think, flip, that’s brave, you maybe should have gone for the posts,” Henderson said.
“However, you can definitely get a feel for the momentum