Henshaw: Ireland can iron out creases and raise game further

Henshaw is expecting Scotland to come gunning for Ireland in Paris

Robbie Henshaw poses for a portait during an Ireland rugby media conference at Complexe de la Chambrerie in Tours, France. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Robbie Henshaw believes Ireland can raise their game further after targeting a clean sweep of World Cup Pool B with a victory over Scotland in eight days.

The Grand Slam winners and world number one-ranked team made it three wins from three last Saturday with an epic 13-8 victory over defending champions South Africa on a momentous night at Stade de France. Yet they still need to beat their Six Nations rivals at the same stadium next weekend to ensure top spot in the pool and a place in the quarter-finals.

Henshaw is expecting the Scots to come gunning for Ireland in Paris and his side will need to be “rock solid” and on the front foot to negate their opponents but he also said the Irish squad has been working hard to iron out the creases in their performance against the Springboks.

Ireland have no match this weekend while Scotland face Pool B minnows Romania in Lille on Saturday and South Africa face Tonga in Marseille on Sunday in their final pool game. Both teams will be expected to take the maximum five points from their matches, moving the Springboks above Andy Farrell’s men to top spot on a finishing total of 15 points from four games while the Scots will likely move to 10 points ahead of their finale with the Irish.

“Every time we play Scotland we know they're going to come for us,” Henshaw said following training at Ireland’s Stade de la Chambrerie training complex on Friday.

“Now, we can see what it means to them, and what they want to chase, and what we want to chase in terms of getting those four wins. They're going to come and have a go like they always do through Finn Russell and getting the ball to the width.

“They'll have a plan and we'll need to make sure we're rock solid and we attack it.

“We've had a good look at what we did against South Africa. Our defence, we definitely showed some great pictures in defence but know we can go another level. Definitely, in attack we took some steps forward but we left some opportunities out there as well.

“Looking at everything from our set-piece, lineout, how can we get better? In the first few moments we miss a few lineouts and that lets South Africa off the hook a bit. We'll break down bits like that and make sure we learn.” 

Henshaw, 30, is the most experienced of Ireland’s three frontline centres with 67 caps for his country compared to Garry Ringrose’s 55 and Bundee Aki’s 50 but he recognised the excellent form of both of his positional rivals, with the latter currently at the peak of his powers.

“He's been brilliant,” Henshaw said of Aki. “His body's in great shape. He's flying fit and he's had a great pre-season, as has Garry.

“The lads are flying it, their performances have been consistent and rock solid and Bundee's been flying in terms of getting tries on the board. He's been letting us know that he's near the top of the try scorers list, which we've been having a laugh about.

“They've been outstanding and for me it's just whenever I get a chance to come in is to make sure I put my best foot forward and whenever I come off the bench making sure I put in a good performance.

“We've had a great week this week to just prepare and make sure we have a plan, and have it rock solid by next Thursday.”