Henderson’s cool head can elevate Ireland in Rome battle
YOU will hear plenty of Ireland players and coaches paying lip service to the Azzurri in the coming days. Under no illusions about the threat the hosts will pose, etc. Most of the party lines will be met with a roll of the eyes. After all, Italy are currently on a 28-game losing streak in this competition. They have just shipped heavy losses to France and England. You have to go all the way to 2015 for their last victory in the championship: away to the Scots at Murrayfield.
But there is a warning from history. Italy’s last home win in this competition was against Ireland in 2013. It’s a day which is seared into the memory banks. It’s the reason why there is an underlying anxiety about trips to the Stadio Olimpico. After all, that loss effectively cost Declan Kidney his job. The Ireland head coach was sacked the following month after a brutal Six Nations campaign, finishing just above a poor French outfit in fifth place.
That afternoon in Rome was the stuff of nightmares. Ireland came into the contest shorn of confidence after successive losses to England, Scotland and France. The visitors lost three backs – Luke Marshall, Keith Earls and Luke Fitzgerald, an injury replacement himself – after 30 minutes, while Brian O’Driscoll was also sent to the sin bin. Peter O’Mahony would have to fill in as an emergency wing.
The longer the game went on, the more it felt like it was going to be one of those days. The Italians sealed a maiden victory over Ireland in the Six Nations, after 13 years of trying.
Iain Henderson was a rookie back then. You could count his Test caps on one hand. He was part of the cavalry sent on to turn the tide that afternoon to no avail.
‘Yeah it was very bizarre,’ the Ulster second row recalled.
‘First time I was ever away in Italy too. Very vocal crowd – obviously that’s dissipated now. I remember Pete going on for
Luke Fitz, on the wing, and me looking down and thinking this game is not going to play out (the way expected) and wondering what’s going to happen here?
‘Being very young and inexperienced at that time in my career, the way I played rugby then it was just (a case of) go on and try and make an impact. Try and ensure I can add something or can add in the style of rugby I was playing then.’
Henderson, who will celebrate his 29th birthday today, is a lot higher up the food chain these days. Back then, he was waiting in the wings behinds the likes of Paul O’Connell, Donncha O’Callaghan, Donnacha Ryan and Mike McCarthy. It took him a long time to shirk the ‘impact sub’ label, especially during the Joe Schmidt years.
These days, he is very much a frontliner under Andy Farrell. When Johnny Sexton and James Ryan were both ruled out of the French game, Farrell turned to Henderson to lead his country, on the day he won his 60th cap for good measure.
‘I think now I’ve a better understanding of the game and the impact you can have, positively and negatively,’ he said.
‘So coming off the bench it’s definitely an opportunity to add to what your team’s already done, or raise your team to another level. We see players coming off the bench in international rugby doing that, for Ireland especially. We’ve seen over a number of years Sean Cronin coming on and adding loads of impact.
‘Players like David Kilcoyne come off the bench and add massively and raise teams’ performances, so I think the role of the bench has probably changed that aspect – from being second string players who have to come on to players who come on and really add something. I suppose the difference in my understanding between now and then are probably worlds apart.’
Henderson has always been a gifted athlete. Ireland doesn’t produce many genetic freaks like him. His main issues have been a lack of consistency and perhaps a lack of edge. But he insists that having a cool head can have its benefits on the field as well.
‘Well, before the (France) game I spoke to the players and said: There’s a very firm reason why everyone who is in the squad, whether in the match day 23 or the wider squad, why they are there. They are there because they are very good at doing something within the game of rugby.
‘And I think when you are stressed, or you are under pressure, go back to what you know you can do really well. Don’t try and stray too far from what you can do exceptionally well. A lot of the time when you look at teams that are under-performing, their basics – the things that players can do really well aren’t there, or aren’t being executed perfectly, which is what essentially almost every international rugby player can do.
‘So, when things aren’t going
100 per cent, trying just to bring everyone back down to realise that the bigger things that you would be worrying about aren’t the things you might need to worry about. Trying to reduce everyone’s anxiety levels. I would try to be more of a calming influence rather than getting people riled up.’
Calm heads will be needed in Rome. Henderson knows all about that.