Rob gets back to the centre

Charlie Mulqueen talks to Rob Henderson, just returning from his latest injury.

IT is widely accepted that a lack of penetration has been one of the chief reasons why Munster have failed at the semi-final or final stage of four Heineken Cup campaigns. They haven't scored enough tries and it has proved fatal.

Accordingly, Rob Henderson was brought on board three seasons ago in the hope that he would provide what current coach Alan Gaffney describes as the necessary midfield 'oomph'.

On occasions, the former Wasps man came up trumps but injury always seemed to intervene. The badly damaged knee he suffered when a first choice centre on the 2001 Lions tour of Australia was the start of his troubles, and since he has twice been a long term casualty after tearing the biceps on each of his arms.

Henderson, now 31, might well be embittered by all the bad luck. But that's not his way. He is a fun loving guy who tries to see the bright side of everything, a point demonstrated by the positive slant he puts on those serious interruptions to his career.

"They say everything comes in threes, so hopefully that's the end of it," he reasons. "It's been a bit of a nightmare, but while I have missed a lot of football, I've still managed to play in three finals, the two Celtic Leagues, the European Cup, as well as semi-finals and quarter-finals. For whatever reason, I seem to be injured in the early parts of the season and play in all the later games."

Once Henderson demonstrated in training that he was fit enough to take and give the knocks, Alan Gaffney didn't hesitate. Even though he hadn't played any kind of match for three months, the coach put Henderson on the bench in Bourgoin last week, brought him on with ten minutes to go, and almost immediately he pressurised the French side into conceding a crucial penalty which Ronan O'Gara duly converted.

"It's difficult coming into that kind of game not having played for three months," he said. "Everybody is playing at a certain pace and I'm thinking, 'my lungs are bursting', but I took a few balls up, made a couple of tackles, held the line, chatted quite well, so I was happy enough."

Henderson's timely return can only help the Munster cause which he maintains is still full of European potential. "We've lost two of the greats in Gaillimh and Claw, but now we have some of the modern greats, while Christian Cullen coming here was an unbelievable coup. He'll set the place on fire when he's fit. We've got a squad of 35-40, we can swap, interchange and it doesn't affect the way the team plays. I think the squad is getting more and more depth although the big one is still eluding us.

"Why? I think it has to be luck. I don't think anybody could question the character of the team given the performances over the past six, seven years. At the end, you need the bounce of the ball to go your way. The spirit and fun in the squad is still there. It will never change."

A torn bicep in the early season Celtic League game against Leinster in Dublin was to cost him his place in the World Cup and deep down that remains a bitter disappointment for a man who has toured with the Lions and played 30 times for Ireland.

"Missing the World Cup was pretty disappointing," he says with a degree of understatement. "It's the one thing I've yet to do in an Irish shirt. But you can't dwell on these things, you just try to get fit and get back playing and fighting for positions again."

He laughs loudly at the prospect of being there in four years. "You never know, although the way the game is going, realistically going to a World Cup at 35 is too far beyond my reach."

Henderson continues to ease himself back to full fitness, and with today's selection to boost him, he's encouraged by his inclusion in the Irish squad travelling to Lanzarote for warm weather training next week.

"I'm not looking at the Six Nations at all. I want to try and ease myself back in, make sure I've got the full power in the arm, make sure I can take all the hits and do all the contact on a continual basis and have no fear in the back of my mind that I'll be hanging back because once you do that, you get injured. I'll wait and see how this week-end goes and see how the matches go after Christmas and anything after that is a bonus."

He admits his ultimate objective is to play for the Lions in two years time and in that respect wonders "if the injuries I've had over the past few years might have saved the body from ten or twelve months of battering and effectively saved myself a season. It was devastating to get injured, but in some respects it could also prolong the way I play."

"I feel I have two good seasons in me after this one. After that, we'll see what happens. I also hope that time will be in Munster. Put the collective together, the play, the players, the craic, the camaraderie why would you want to leave the best club in Europe?"