Henderson fired-up for Schmidt’s swansong
JOE SCHMIDT’S final competitive game in charge of Ireland at the Aviva today presents them with the opportunity to keep their Six Nations hopes alive and maintain their recent dominance over France in a fixture in which they have historically struggled.
Ireland will have World Cup warm-up games in Dublin against Italy and Wales later this year but this will be Schmidt’s last competitive game at the Aviva Stadium and the New Zealander admitted it will be emotional.
“It will be hard to say goodbye to it. We’ve had some great days and occasions in the Aviva and it would be great if this was another,” Schmidt said.
“But players play under those circumstances all the time. You never know when your next cap is coming and coaches are probably like that as well. You could be chopped at any time.”
Four of the starting side that won 26-16 in Rome last time out are not involved today and while it was anticipated that Garry Ringrose would come in for Chris Farrell and Quinn Roux would lose out to Iain Henderson, the omission of hooker Sean Cronin and flanker Sean O’Brien from the matchday squad shows Schmidt’s ruthlessness.
Henderson will team up with James Ryan in the second row with Ultan Dillane dropping to provide cover off the bench, but there is no room for Tadhg Beirne in the squad as Schmidt tries to rescue their Six Nations crown, with Irish fans hoping that Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray can rediscover top form at half-back.
Schmidt’s six-year reign as Irish coach has been festooned with success, constantly knocking down barriers in fixtures that Ireland have traditionally struggled in.
That’s more apparent against today’s opponents France. Schnidt has won five of his six games against them since he took charge in 2013, the only loss coming 10-9 in Paris three seasons ago.
Prior to that Ireland had won only one of their previous 14 games against the French.
Henderson, who missed the games against England and Scotland with a hand injury and returned off the bench in Rome, is part of the new breed of Irish player who has enjoyed constant success against the French.
He was surprised this week to realise that he had never lost to the French – five wins and a draw, having missed the loss in Paris in 2016 – but said he never knows what to expect from them even if they have gone with an unchanged side from that which defeated Scotland.
“Preparing for them can be similar to preparing for sides like Argentina, like Italy; you’re not 100 per cent sure what they’re going to do.
“You see players playing for club teams in France who are incredible but the next season their club side drops. That might sort of vary their international side a bit.”
He knows the defence of Ireland’s Six Nations title is hanging by a thread but says they are fired-up to make amends for the England loss on the opening weekend.
“This championship has only two games at home. One of them didn’t go the way we wanted it to, so that only leaves one other game in this championship to put down a stamp at home,” Henderson said.
“We’ll not play another competitive game at home until this time next year. The lads who played against England will have that in the back of their minds and the lads who are coming in will realise that they’ve got to add something.
“Those things combined will, I think, increase the performance and hopefully make for better viewing.”
Henderson has chalked up 43 caps since his debut in 2012 straight after coming out of the U20 side, and is keen to make the most of every opportunity.
“I turned 27 a few weeks ago and I feel like I’m still a 21 or 22-year-old. But that’s not the way it is. Time does move on incredibly fast. and we have to make the most of every opportunity. There is no point looking ahead to the World Cup, all that matters now is France.”