Henshaw’s targeting a clean sweep
THERE is an understandable feel-good factor around Leinster’s UCD training base this week.
Unbeaten since early November, the Blues are heading to Montpellier this weekend looking to complete a clean sweep of Champions Cup Pool stage wins, a proposition that certainly looks far less daunting than it would have 12 months ago.
For all the exciting rugby Leo Cullen’s men offered up last season, French away days constantly brought them crashing back down to earth.
In a season that saw them exit Europe at the semi-final stages, Leinster lost in Montpellier (22-16) and drew in Castres (24-24) — results made all the more frustrating given they defeated both outfits at the RDS — before their Champions Cup hopes were ended with a 27-22 loss in Clermont.
According to Robbie Henshaw, lessons have been learned, and tomorrow we can expect to see a more adventurous, confident approach from the province at the Altrad Stadium.
‘We need to go over there with more of an attacking mindset,’ explained Henshaw. ‘A mindset that we need to start quicker than we did over there last year, it’s a different atmosphere, the stadiums are different, the crowds are different... but we need to put that to one side and treat it like a normal game. We need to go and attack them from minute one and just give it our all.
‘In previous years we were slow to get out of the blocks. You’d have seen that last year when we played them over there, and look at the Clermont game, we were slow getting out of the blocks, because it will be vital.’
The outstanding moment of that Clermont defeat was Garry Ringrose’s blistering solo try, and while the young centre is sidelined for this weekend’s trip, Leinster have even more firepower in their ranks now with the pace and flair of both Jordan Larmour and James Lowe adding an extra pinch of unpredictability to an already ultracompletive backline. ‘It’s great,’ admitted Henshaw. ‘I’d love to have the wheels Jordan Larmour has. It’s great any time either of those players, or even Fergus [McFadden], when they get the ball, you know they’re going to make something out of nothing, or they’ll definitely get you over the gainline, into space.
‘So for us inside it’s a matter of creating space for them, or getting the ball out to them, which worked the last couple of weeks, just getting the boys on the ball early and getting them in space.’
Leinster’s attacking focus has also allowed Henshaw more opportunities to express himself on the ball, and the 24-year-old says that while he enjoys the physical side of the game, he is capable of far more than being a barrelling up-the-jumper type of player.
‘I try to express myself in terms of being well rounded, have that passing, that distribution game,’ he continued. ‘And being able to be direct, a carrier, as well. Sometimes it depends on the situations, the type of game plan you are playing or the way the opposition are playing. I’d like to see myself as not just a crash-hit player. I like to vary my skills.’ The centre is braced for a typically physical test against the Top14 leaders tomorrow, and after the pain of failing to win in France last year, he insits that it is a perfect opportunity for the province to make a real statement of intent — even if that means parking their free-flowing attacking style for the afternoon.
‘We need to put down a marker. Going over there, we’ll have to win, be it ugly or be it scoring a lot of tries or whatever. But we need to go over there with the mindset that we need to come out with the win because if we’re take a step further than we did last year, we need to be comfortable, and be uncomfortable, over there but come out on the winning side.
‘Similar to all French teams, when they play at home they are different. So we need to not be fazed by what the crowd will be like or what they’ll bring, but just be focused on ourselves and what we’ve been doing all year.
‘We just need to continue that and just keep building, but I think for us to lay down a real marker we want a clean sweep.’