BEGINNING AND HEND

Ireland star back to square one

BIRTHDAY boy Iain Henderson admits next week’s trip to Rome will be “world’s apart” from his first.

Henderson had just turned 21 and in his first Six Nations campaign when he came off the bench in the Olimpico Stadium in 2013 in what proved to be Declan Kidney’s last game in charge of Ireland.

It was also Italy’s first and only win over Ireland in the Six Nations and came about as the visitors lost three men to injury in the first half and had three men, including Brian O’Driscoll, dismissed to the sin-bin.

“Yeah, it was very bizarre,” recalled Henderson. “First time I was ever away in Italy, too. Very vocal crowd – obviously that’s dissipated now.

“I remember Pete (O’Mahony) going on for Luke Fitzgerald on the wing, and me looking down and thinking this game is not going to play out (the way we expected) and wondering, ‘what’s going to happen here?’.

“Being young and inexperienced for me at that time in my career, the way I played rugby then it was just go on and try and make an impact, try to ensure I can add something.

“I think I’ve a better understanding of the game now and the impact you can have, positively and negatively.”

Henderson’s life has changed a great deal since then – to the extent that he will celebrate his own 29th birthday today by scoffing the scraps of his son Freddy’s cake after he turned one yesterday.

Henderson led the Ireland team out for the first time last weekend. He has come a long way since he partnered up in the second row with Paul O’Connell, who recently became Ireland’s forwards coach.

“From where I was then to what I’ve become now, I obviously became a lot more mature and that comes with age,” Henderson reflected.

“I was a relatively immature rugby player – probably a relatively immature person and carefree in rugby.

“The consequences of games definitely didn’t mean as much to me as they do now. The work that I was putting in, it was a lot less detailed. It was more of a hobby than something I really wanted to nail down. That’s something that probably comes with time and experience.”