The recent pictures of Robbie Henshaw strolling along in the surf of a Caribbean beach may have appeared idyllic after a season where the 23-year-old welded down his place in the Ireland centre after a number of assured performances.
But Henshaw now faces a long road to recovery as well as a race against time to be fit and in form for Ireland’s historic meeting with the All Blacks in Soldier Field, Chicago, in early November.
Following a close but no cigar three-Test Tour to South Africa, which the hosts won 2-1 after Ireland opened with a famous win in Cape Town, Henshaw was due a good break but the uncertainty hanging over the lateral tear to his meniscus has now left Leinster’s new recruit understandably frustrated that he will have no physical input for several months.
Fractured season
Henshaw will arrive in
Leinster
for the first time next week and although he has spoken to coach
Leo Cullen
on the phone, he will have his first sit down and see doctors in an effort to map out an already fractured season.
Optimistically the Irish centre is aiming to be back for Leinster’s opening European matches on the weekends of October 13th and October 20th and if he makes that then the November international matches are realistic.
But the inexactitude hurts. When he can step back onto a field has yet to be nailed down and the possibility is that Soldier Field might come too soon for him.
“I’m not certain. I can’t tell you that,” he says. “To be optimistic I’d be aiming for before that, maybe for the European games in the Champions Cup. But to be honest I can’t say.
“I have a check up next week with the surgeon and I’ll know more then. I’ve been told to completely switch off and keep it in the brace and not do anything really and let it mend.”
To add to that hindrance, Graham Henry will be with Leinster in the coming weeks as a consultant and while Henshaw can listen and learn he will not take part in any on field work with the World Cup winning Kiwi.
“I’m not sure when he (Henry) is coming in but it’s quite soon,” he says. “It’s obviously a massive benefit for the guys and for everyone in the set up. I obviously won’t be training on the pitch and he’ll be observing so I’ll be looking got some advice and some information off him.”
Henry's consultative arrangement with the province was not part of the landscape when Henshaw agreed to leave Connacht.
“No it came after I made the decision,” he says.
But aside from the botheration of his forced inactivity, there is excitement about the move from Galway. Living in Dublin’s Blackrock area, Henshaw now hopes to kick on to another level with the help of many of the players he lines up with for Ireland.
He’s hopeful that closer contact with established international players, who have also played for the Lions, can benefit his game. He’s also satisfied that he didn’t cut Connacht and Pat Lam adrift but left when the team was in the best place they have probably ever been.
“I’ve left the place on a really high note, on a bang,” he says. “Even just for me, the change needed to come. I’ve been there a long time. I needed the change for myself as well and to go and get experience off guys who have got to that next level, for example Jonny Sexton, Jamie Heaslip, guys who have played in the Lions team.
‘Funny feeling’
“It was just a decision for me, you know. Obviously leaving by winning and beating Leinster, the team I was going to, it was kind of a funny feeling. But it was just incredible for Connacht because they hadn’t won silverware ever. To do that in my time I’ve been with them is definitely memorable.
“Yeah, it was the perfect way to leave.”
Paddling in the Irish Sea by the Martello Tower in Seapoint doesn't have the same cache as the turquoise water around the Sandy Lane Resort in Barbados. Henshaw stayed there with Irish team-mates Conor Murray and Dave Kearney, reportedly as guests of hotel owner JP McManus.
But challenges come in all ways and Henshaw is up for the one immediately ahead as well as those further down the road when he is fit enough to play. It’s, he says, one of the reasons he left Connacht.
“I love a challenge, I want to keep improving my game,” he says. “I’ll never settle to not improve my game so I think that’s one of the reasons.
“I need to be pushed by other guys. it’s going to be unreal and it can only benefit me, it can only kick me on.”
