The arc of Robbie Henshaw’s career has been decorated with moments that are part of rugby’s historical fabric. He was in Chicago in 2016 when Ireland beat the All Blacks for the first time at Soldier Field and injury free will be there next November as it was confirmed on Tuesday that the teams are to repeat the fixture.
Henshaw’s USA moment came from an attacking five-metre scrum. The ball arrived to him and high on the octane of squeezing New Zealand he brushed aside three covering players for glory. That day he scored the winning try and had the number 12 on his back, with Ulster’s Jared Payne at 13.
In 2023 Henshaw was part of the fourth ever Ireland team to win the Grand Slam. For the final match against England over St Patrick’s weekend he was wearing the 13 shirt with Bundee Aki inside him at 12. It was the first time Ireland had ever clinched the title in Dublin.
Who has been added to Ireland’s Six Nations squad and why?
Last week against Scotland Henshaw was at 13, and the week before against England he started on the bench and came on for Bundee Aki into the 12 position. It has been like that for much of his career, making comfortably smooth rotations between the two positions, with Henshaw, Aki and Ringrose falling into a kind of equilibrium around the numbers.
Matt Sherratt urges Wales not to ‘die wondering’ against Ireland
Finn Russell fit for Scotland but Darcy Graham misses England clash
Ireland boss Simon Easterby makes some bold and exciting selections for Wales clash
What time is kick-off and what TV channel is Wales v Ireland on? All you need to know about the Six Nations clash
“Yeah, it’s very seamless,” says Henshaw. “We all know each other’s strengths inside out now at this stage. A lot of work goes in during the week to making sure that everyone is singing off the same hymn sheet. A lot of work is done on video, on the pitch to make sure that those connections are built and they’re strong coming into the weekend, that we have that confidence to go into the game.
“Everyone’s delighted to have contributed in the first games. It’s been positive. We’re always pushing the boundaries, pushing the bar to keep improving each other and keep getting the best out of each other. And making sure we can be leaders in the backline, helping out our nines and 10s defensively as well. Be big leaders defensively. So, yeah, it’s been positive, the mood has been good.”
Who gets what shirt and when has ebbed and flowed. But recently they have all seen pitch time, while injuries have also determined the pairings. Last year Ringrose had a shoulder problem which left Henshaw and Jamie Osborn to gorge themselves on game time at Leinster.
He is currently on a roll of extended fitness, linking games and staying healthy. He is, he says, a blended centre, comfortable to be out in space near the winger or making hard gains in little ground.
“I was a bit of a hybrid, yeah, but with last year what happened was that Garry was unfortunately out for a while with a shoulder injury and I happened to play a lot with Leinster in the 13 shirt with Jamie at 12. It’s always been one week at 12 the next it’s … you know you need to be able to do it, you need to be able to play both.
“It’s probably a strength of mine that I can mix and match between both. You challenge each other, I challenge Garry and Bundee to be able to slot into both because in the middle of a game something might happen. You mix and match and move around. You always have to be adaptable.”
But 12 throws up the greater physical challenge.
“Yeah, physically tougher. Feels tougher at 12, definitely, in terms of contacts. Probably in the lungs and the running metres at 13 you’re doing more. So, yeah, probably demanding wise, running wise you are doing a lot more at 13.”
Travelling to Cardiff is another piece of the Henshaw graph. The 31-year-old may have scored the winner against the All Blacks but he has never beaten Wales in the Principality Stadium. He has been there three times in 2015, 2017 and 2021 and drew a blank. In 2023 Ireland beat Wales in the first match of the series with Ringrose and Stuart McCloskey in the centre and Aki on the bench.
“It’s an incredibly tough place to play. We’ve had some great battles with Wales over the years. Such a passionate crowd. And when the crowd get behind them and if they get a roll they’re hard to stop.
“There is a bit of change going on there, we’ll have a look back at what they are producing in the tournament and over autumn. There is a lot of focus on ourselves as well to make sure we’re across our work and, yeah, they will definitely have something different up their sleeve with their new attack coach. So, yeah, it will be a challenge.”
And maybe another first for him.
