The Ulster forward tells GAVIN CUMMISKEYhow he has tried hard to develop his game as a specialist openside
SCRIBBLE OUT the Ireland XV to face South Africa on November 10th. Barring a fresh wave of injuries, it is not overly difficult to predict the side Declan Kidney will send out to battle.
Rob Kearney’s back operation ensures fullback is a concern and that means the entire back three combination may need to be reconfigured.
But most other selections appear nailed on.
The number seven jersey, however, remains a live debate. Seán O’Brien is still recuperating from double hip surgery but the starting opensides for Leinster (Shane Jennings), Connacht (Willie Faloon) and Ulster (Chris Henry) have all been in impressive form.
Yesterday’s exclusion of Jennings – John Muldoon and Kevin McLaughlin were other flankers, blindsides both, who were called up – from Kidney’s 30-man squad appears to have turned the debate of who joins Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip in the Irish backrow into a straight dog-fight between Henry and Peter O’Mahony.
O’Mahony is higher up the Kidney pecking order and therefore favourite despite playing at number eight recently but Henry is a completely different animal from the one that won his first cap in Ireland’s end-of-season defeat at Suncorp Stadium in 2010.
That night everything was motoring along nicely, with Ireland leading 6-3, until the 18th minute.
Henry, playing number eight that night, picked from the base of the scrum and instead of finding Tomás O’Leary his pass was grabbed by Wallaby scrumhalf Luke Burgess. An easy seven points was banked and Ireland eventually lost 22-15. Not that Henry wakes in a cold sweat about how his first cap worked out.
“I think, overall, apart from the intercept I was happy enough with my first half,” said the 28-year-old. “Unfortunately things happen in a rugby match. I don’t dwell on it, it is a game. Bad things happen and you have to let them go. I certainly have.
“The first cap brings different pressures. Maybe I was too young, I don’t know, but I certainly feel like I have progressed an awful lot since then. I think there is a lot more to come from me as well.”
Into the wilderness he went, cementing a leadership role on Ulster’s openside flank. Yesterday’s squad was confirmation of his return as a national contender. This time as a specialist openside and spoiler of opposition ball.
“I think I am a seven. That’s where I have tried to bring on my game. I enjoy that aspect of the game and have really tried to develop. I think that’s what I can bring now.
“I am more comfortable to play there but I have no problem playing in other positions, I certainly switch to six when needed for Ulster.”
Granted, he and the other Ulster forwards were overrun in last May’s Heineken Cup final but his showing in Thomond Park last April provided proof that any lingering demons from Brisbane had long been exorcised.
That Henry performance, in helping to beat Munster in Limerick, has been replicated countless times since, most recently in Glasgow last Friday when he twisted over for a crucial try off Ulster’s rolling maul.
“I realised I had to bring more physicality. The breakdown is key and I wanted to bring something that maybe others players can’t. I have worked on that an awful lot.”
Playing alongside men like Johann Muller, John Afoa and Ferris has allowed him to narrow focus and become an out and out openside.
“Yeah, playing with these players at Ulster has brought me on and helped my confidence. The atmosphere in Ulster has been important.”
With Müller injured, he is captain for tomorrows game against the Dragons. Mark Anscombe may be forced to dig deeper into his leadership group in November.
