TYING DOWN ULSTER STAR IS PRIORITY 36
Second row’s form suggests a new deal should be top of IRFU’s ‘to do’ list ahead of Japan 2019
IAIN HENDERSON has a great deal to think about. He is expected to return to the Ireland starting team on Saturday having missed the Wales match with a hamstring injury, joining players who insist their focus is set solely on the challenge presented by Scotland.
They wouldn’t be human if their thoughts didn’t drift towards the possibility of playing in Twickenham for a Grand Slam on Saturday week, but there are other potential distractions in Henderson’s professional life.
There has yet to be an announcement on a new contract for a player whose present agreement expires at the end of this season.
The IRFU often reveal new contracts for leading players in the middle of the Six Nations, but there hasn’t been a whisper about Henderson in weeks.
This is especially notable because when Peter O’Mahony, Tadhg Furlong and CJ Stander all committed to the Irish system before Christmas, the news was widely and proudly shared.
Henderson would be included with those three, along with the likes of Conor Murray and Robbie Henshaw, in the group of Irish players who will be at their prime come the World Cup.
His importance to Ireland is unquestioned now, and by the end of this championship his partnership in the second row with James Ryan should be established as a unit that can power Ireland to Japan in 2019 and for years beyond it.
However, Henderson has plenty to ponder before, at the age of 26, he dedicates the prime years of his career to Ulster.
And Ulster is enough to make any player think. Their director of rugby was fired at the start of the year and their head coach will be gone at the end of the season.
The futures of the remaining members of the coaching ticket appear to hinge on a review the province are undertaking in the light of Jono Gibbes’ decision to leave.
Performances this season have been too often abject, never worse than in the capitulation to Wasps in the Champions Cup in January, a match in which Ulster were supposed to be fighting for their lives but played with no spirit, aggression or intent.
Henderson should be one of the men around which an Ulster rejuvenation can be started, but there is a patent lack of leadership throughout the team.
Rory Best is an inspiration but he will be 36 later this year and doesn’t have many seasons left. Jacob Stockdale is one of the most exciting players in the Six Nations but beyond that, Ulster are a squad full of players who are promising, and others who never fulland, their promise. It is difficult to imagine Henderson not deciding to stay, for all of that. His Ireland future would have to be jeopardised by a move abroad, as Simon Zebo has learned. Making an exception for Henderson, as Joe Schmidt did for Johnny Sexton when he played in France would be a possibility, but that would be high risk. If a big English or French club moved for Henderson and paid him a fortune — and there would be plenty of interest — they would expect their money’s worth. So just as Sexton was run ragged by Racing 92 in his first months in France, so Henderson would accumulate big mileage. But as a second row, he would be playing in a much more punishing position than Sexton did as an out half, and therefore would be more vulnerable to injury and plain old fatigue than a back. It wouldn’t be good news for Ire- and that is why the expectation remains that a new contract for Henderson will be revealed shortly.
His form over the past year does strengthen his case, given how he impressed on the Lions tour and his increasing consistency for Ireland, too. This was after a wretched start to last year’s championship, for Henderson and for Ireland.
He scored a try in the dismal defeat to Scotland on the opening weekend, but he didn’t play well and it stirred again criticism of his occasional inability to impress himself on a game.
That tendency is less in evidence now, and he was excellent in Paris in the first round. He attracted much attention in the November series win against South Africa for a charge that levelled Eben Etzebeth.
Etzebeth is one of the best second rows in the world, a fearsome physical player with the destructive tendencies true to Springbok rugby.
But Henderson blasted through him, an image that became instantly popular on social media.
It impressed the player less than it did supporters.
Henderson is a very level characfilled ter, easy-going and calm in his public appearances.
‘That was a two-second period in an 80-minute game,’ he said afterwards.
‘People may look at that and say I played brilliantly because I ran over the top of him but if I do everything else wrong in the game then I’ve played badly.
‘And if Eben happens to miss that tackle but is excellent everywhere else, then he’s still played really well.
‘So that’s probably where you have to take things with a pinch of salt. It’s not about a highlights reel kind of approach.’
His high skill level and ability in broken play marked Henderson out as a coming star from early on in his career, and his mobility has seen him play at blindside flanker.
But over the past year he has found his spot in the Irish second row, and in Ryan he has a partner even more athletic and naturally talented.
Together, they promise to be one of Ireland’s most talented pairings ever. That should make tying him down to a new IRFU contract a priority – and it makes the thought of him leaving the Irish system unthinkable.
‘I’ve mentioned before that we have a poor away record’
From Back Page admitted and the championship expanded to six teams, Scotland have played 46 away games and won only six of them. ‘I think, as I’ve mentioned before, we have a poor away record in the Six Nations,’ said Townsend. ‘We’re working hard to change that. But this is up there with the toughest challenges in world rugby, playing Ireland in Dublin. ‘We’ll just be focused on how we go about that, how we get that win.’ However, while Grand Slam talk grows here, the fact that Scotland are still in the championship race despite their opening-day loss to Wales, was flagged by Townsend. If they win on Saturday, then they go into the final round still in contention. ‘Yeah, we’re not out of it,’ he said. ‘So we understand that this game is huge for us, firstly as a one-off, but also to stay in the mix on the last weekend. ‘That gives the players a lot of motivation.’