SHOULD GARRY RINGROSE be available for selection when Ireland play Wales later this month, Andy Farrell will have a big call to make in his midfield.
Ringrose has been a nailed-on starter for Ireland when fit, but in his absence Robbie Henshaw has stepped up impressively across Ireland’s opening Six Nations wins against France and Italy.
Henshaw plays most of his rugby at 12 but has thrived in the 13 shirt over the last two weeks, linking up superbly with Bundee Aki in Marseille before another strong showing alongside Stuart McCloskey yesterday.
A hamstring injury limited Henshaw’s influence at the World Cup, with the former Connacht man making just two appearances off the bench (v Tonga and South Africa). He came into the Six Nations with a strong run of games under his belt with Leinster, and has kicked on again since coming back into the Ireland starting team.
With Ireland playing on the frontfoot against the Azzurri yesterday, Henshaw was heavily involved across the six-try win.
It was an authoritative performance from the 30-year-old, who was the most experienced international in Farrell’s starting team, the game representing Henshaw’s 69th Test cap.
After conceding an early penalty, Henshaw began to make his presence felt with two nice contributions during the build-up to Jack Crowley’s opening try.
Taking possession, Henshaw puts his head down and drives through the Italian defenders.
After using his strength to beat the first defender, he shows good footwork to then step the next tackle.
A few phases later Henshaw again carries with intent to break the Italian line, pushing Ireland to the edge of the Italy 22.
Henshaw is almost away, but gets felled by a good recovery tackle by Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello. Still, Ireland continue to build pressure and a few moments later, Crowley is over for his first try in senior rugby.
Henshaw was also involved in Ireland’s second try, throwing a beautiful offload before Dan Sheehan barges over.
Henshaw does really well to free his hands behind winger Lorenzo Pani and find his centre partner, Stuart McCloskey, who in turn hits Sheehan.
Ireland continued to dominate their visitors in the second half, and Henshaw continued to play with aggression and carry with purpose.
With the bonus point wrapped up, he was unlucky not to get over himself for a try.
After working some space with a smart show-and-go, Henshaw squeezes through two Italian defenders but sees the try crossed off for a double movement.
Ireland continued to build pressure and were frustrated to see this nice attacking shape break down, Henshaw combining with Harry Byrne only for the Leinster out-half to unfortunately spill the ball.
Again, it was lovely handling from Henshaw, who hits Byrne with a nice pass out the back.
It proved to be his last meaningful involvement before being replaced by Jordan Larmour on 63 minutes after a fine day’s work, where he finished with nine carries and made two offloads, beating five defenders along the way.
Speaking after the game, Farrell admitted Henshaw is hitting top form again.
“He’s found his mojo, hasn’t he? He’s back,” said Farrell.
He’s on fire at the minute, playing really well. You could see that on the first day back, the first day training. His confidence is right up, he’s his old self and he’s bouncing around the place.
“We spoke during the week about his combination with Stu [McCloskey[, the last time they played together in Biarritz against Samoa [in the World Cup warm-up game] wasn’t what it should have been.
“They both worked really hard to make the team feel right and Robbie was at the heart of that.”
Even if Ringrose is back in the mix for Wales, it’s going to be very difficult to leave Henshaw out of the starting team. After a frustrating experience at the World Cup, the Leinster centre looks back to his influential best.