IT’S NOT FUN being on the sidelines, particularly when you’re not injured.
So it was for Iain Henderson for the last two weeks, placed on the sidelines to align with IRFU player management guidelines, a whole hemisphere away from his Ulster team-mates as they brought back seven points from South Africa.
“Seeing the boys playing, and even just the craic that they were having out there in South Africa, I would have loved to be with them,” he says, with more than a twinge of sadness.
It’s all part of a bigger picture, of course, with the World Cup just starting to poke its head over the horizon and with a mouthwatering clash against the All Blacks even sooner in November.
Keeping their players fit and ready to go is paramount to the IRFU, as you would expect, with eyes firmly on the long-term plan as opposed to potential short-term problems.
Every Ireland player has had to go through it at the start of the season, the lock perhaps just got unlucky that Ulster’s two-week tour came in that period. Instead, he busied himself getting ready for two exams and preparing to move house.
Still, it didn’t fully take his mind off on-field matters.
“It’s always frustrating watching your team play,” the Ireland star admits. “If they’re not playing well, you want to be helping. If they are playing well, you want to be part of it.
“I’ve never watched Ulster and thought to myself I’m glad I’m sat here and not out there.
“You have to put a bit of faith in the system, faith in the people that are making the plans. That’s how you’re going to play your best rugby. I’ve had a few weeks off there, there’ll be more after the international window and it’s all to ensure that we play the best rugby that we can and help Ulster as best we can.
“There’s times I’m sure when your average Kingspan Stadium goer just wants to see the first XV every weekend. I don’t blame them, I’d want the same if I was going.
“The reality is that it’s not possible with the amount of games there are over the next 14 months. Objectively I can look at it and understand.”
And of the World Cup? Sure, it’s still all those 14 months away, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any excitement over it, particularly now the All Blacks look vulnerable after that Springboks loss.
With Ireland having gotten that monkey off their backs as well, and the potential of inflicting another defeat on them in Dublin during the autumn, there’s renewed belief that this could be the tournament Ireland finally make it into at least the last four — and , dare we say it, maybe further.
“The last World Cup was unbelievable, it was a new experience for me. I was still relatively new into the squad and enjoying the atmosphere at the games, in the cities,” Henderson says.
“From what I’ve heard, each World Cup is completely different, has a different vibe, it’ll be a whole different culture that we’re in even though you still have the avid rugby fans coming from each corner of the earth. I’m really excited.
“For ourselves, I think beating the All Blacks is something that as a country, it was a hurdle that we hadn’t overcome. We’re not going in now saying that there’s a team that we haven’t beaten before.
“Realistically if we want to win it, you have to beat them at some stage. Realistically that’s something that’s ahead of us. We’ve shown over the last three years that we can beat any side in the world.
“The pressure is heaped on us in terms of the expectation from home, Argentina are getting better, South Africa have probably had a few disappointing seasons but I’m sure they’ll be ramping things up, there’s a lot of contenders.”
Back with Ulster, meanwhile, it’s been a good start to the season for Henderson and his team-mates. Unbeaten through four, seven points from two games in South Africa and a new young core of players to get excited about, things look on the up.
New signings Will Addison and Billy Burns have been big hits so far, Marcell Coetzee is a man on a mission and the likes of Angus Curtis, Angus Kernohan, Eric O’Sullivan and Tom O’Toole have fans drooling over their potential.
And yet the spectre of last season still hangs around in the background no matter how hard Ulster try to get rid of it. Changes have happened on and off the pitch, but the struggles of an ill-fated campaign are still there.
“We maybe don’t have a chip on our shoulder but we feel we have a point to prove to change a few people’s minds to ensure that we rectify their opinions of Ulster, which is probably something we’ve tried to prove this year,” Henderson explains.
“Everyone at Ulster is always fully aware what bad mouthing is done about us. The media and social media is something that is talked about a lot, and the way we are thought of in that, that’s definitely something you can’t really ignore nowadays, it is so vivid and it’s there — people can reach you on such a personal level.
“That’s something that will affect people, and I think most sportspeople do try to use that in a positive way as far as possible.”
So what this season would signify that Ulster have moved on from last season’s disappointments?
“I said it last year, and I’m pretty sure I said it the year before, it’d be pretty spectacular if one team would be able to turn what was such a bad season into a winning season,” believes Henderson.
“It’s not a process that’s going to happen overnight, we’re not going to change into a European Cup-winning side overnight, to say we’re going to win the European Cup this year is completely ridiculous.
“It’s all about improving on last season and ensuring we’re taking forward steps so that we can look at our previous performances, like the last quarter of last season, and say are we making positives steps forward, are we progressing as a team, what didn’t we do right then and are we doing it better now to get better again?
“Since the start of the season we’ve been doing that, and I’m very happy with how the season has begun for Ulster, and if we can continue to build on that and keep getting better, I wouldn’t like to measure it in terms of success — semi-finals, finals, cups — but as long as we can continue to honestly admit to ourselves we’re getting better then I’m happy with that.”
This week Henderson will return to the pitch, only it’s not exactly a small week for Ulster, with a trip to Thomond Park to take on Munster — especially a wounded Munster — not exactly one of the favoured fixtures on the calendar.
Limerick hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Ulster, with a win in 2014 their last triumph in Ireland’s southernmost province, and with a severely depleted squad making the journey, there’s already doubts this will go much better.
Munster may have plenty of questions hanging over them after their last two results away from home against the Glasgow Warriors and Cardiff Blues, but all signs point to a home win today. Not that that has brought Henderson down.
“I’m really excited coming back for the derbies, especially this one, it’s fantastic,” he says, clearly ready for the much-anticipated personal battle between himself and Tadhg Beirne in the engine room.
“I think we always relish playing these games against our provincial and international team-mates, so everyone’s really excited for it. I’m sure the Munster guys are looking to get back on the pitch after last weekend and prove what they can do, more effectively than last weekend.
“Inter-pro games always have a lot more edge and expectation on them, they almost feel like play-off games and I suppose that’s why they are more intense and there seems like there’s more on the line for them.
“On top of that, people are vying for national places and trying to put their hands up, so that ups the ante as well — it’s a combination of all those factors that make for such intense games.”
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