Despite a series of excellent cameo roles for Ireland in last season's Five Nations Championship, Rob Henderson has endured a pretty frugal representative career since. He failed to make the squad for Ireland's tour to Australia last summer and was also surplus to requirements for the World Cup campaign.

At the start of this season's Six Nations he remained out of the frame until injuries to Justin Bishop and Kevin Maggs necessitated a call-up to the bench for the Scotland game. Girvan Dempsey's broken nose gave him an early taste of the action and he went on to enjoy a fine game. His physique lends itself to the perception that he is simply a `bosh' merchant but that does him something of a disservice. Having won 12 caps to date, it ought to be lucky rather than unlucky 13.