Relaxed Henshaw very much at home at the Sportsground

For Robbie Henshaw this must have been slightly odd.

There he was, this modest, grounded 20-year-old, training against his Connacht team-mates on his home Sportsground patch before hordes of the near 3,000 kids on their mid-term break queued up for his autograph and/or photograph. Already the anointed one is as much a star as any of his Irish team-mates.

The local hero admitted to having some pride in being the Connacht man training with Ireland on his home patch and against his home team, albeit he seemed a little uncomfortable as well after an intense, full-on 50 minute training session against their Connacht hosts as part of Ireland’s roadshow.

"It was a little different. It's been a while since I've been back in Galway. It's good to see the lads and to get a run out against them. There was a little bit of niggle involved in it as well," he admitted with a wry chuckle.

It's sometimes easy to forget that not only is this Henshaw's first Six Nations, but last Saturday was only his fourth senior game at inside centre and just his third in tandem with Jared Payne. He has sacrificed some of the playmaking we have come to see from him at outside centre to effectively adopt the greater physicality required of an inside centre.

Game plan

“I’m sticking to the game plan and at 12 I obviously like to crash it up and get good ‘gain line’ and create some good momentum for the team, some good go-forward ball. At the moment I’m comfortable doing that, but I can also be a playmaker as well so I’m looking forward to mixing that in as well.”

Payne, whom Henshaw describes as fairly “chilled”, has been teaching the younger man cards, as well as giving plenty of on-field vocal advice.

“Myself and Jared are getting closer and closer, our relationship is getting better and better. He’s reading off me and I’m able to read off him.

“Just training with him and being in the environment with him is great. I know more and more about his game, just learning every day off him. It’s going to get stronger and stronger. We’ve definitely more to offer in the centre. We’re just looking to build on our recent performances.”

Our soil

As a team therefore, Henshaw believes this Ireland “have a lot more to offer in terms of our attack and we’re really going to have a go at them (England) this time and really going to put it to them. It’s on our soil and I think we’re not going to hold back”.

The pride in Henshaw extended beyond the local supporters, to Connacht coach Pat Lam.

"Fantastic. Doesn't he look comfortable?" beamed the Connacht coach of Henshaw's debut Six Nations. "On the back of the autumn internationals and then on the back of what he has been doing with Connacht and Ireland, it is world class."

“Just talking to Joe, defensively he doesn’t care, doesn’t care who he is tackling, doesn’t care who is up there. He is a beast and is there to hurt people. He and Jared Payne are a great combination working well off each other. He is just going to get better and better.”

Lam maintained that Henshaw is “still the down to earth guy that he has been” while noting how he has thrived in the Irish environment as he did when first breaking into the Connacht team two seasons ago.

That Henshaw may one day end up confronting Connacht in the Sportsground, most likely with Leinster after his contract expires in 2016, remains a distinct possibility but he was never going to be the first player in the professional era to leave one province for another while still under contract.

“Nothing has changed from what we have been saying all along,” reiterated Lam, who stressed that days like yesterday are an example of “Connacht’s vision of grassroots to green shirts from the growing and promoting of the game”, with Henshaw its benchmark.

“I was just talking to kids outside and was asking ‘where do you come from?’ and they said Sligo, Westport; a couple from over by Roscommon. It was fantastic. They have driven all this way to see their heroes. See their team, Connacht, and see their national heroes. It’s a wonderful day.”

There wasn’t much holding back either. After doing separate drills, the two packs came together for some live scrummaging and rucking, while the two backlines went through some kicking and counter-attacking, before the two sides came together en bloc for half an hour, with no holding back.

After last Sunday’s defeat to the Scarlets, Lam believes it is just what Connacht needed before Sunday’s game away to the Dragons – surprise winners over Leinster at the RDS last Sunday.

Step up

Lam didn’t want Connacht “just holding bags”, adding: “Joe (Schmidt) and I planned this session a few weeks back and the first thing I needed to know was we could train as a team and stay as a team rather than being mixed around.

“Our systems on attack and defence, they change regardless of who we are playing and so to be able to go against the hottest team in international rugby at the moment, we needed to be on our jobs today which wasn’t what we were on at the weekend. Now we build and need to step up again on the weekend.”