Ruddock endorses Henshaw and Olding senior call

Mike Ruddock has given his blessing to the decision to call Robbie Henshaw and Stuart Olding into the senior tour to North America next month rather than make the pair available to his U20 side at the upcoming Junior World Cup.

Both Henshaw and Olding would have added an enormous amount to an underage side that showed significant promise during their Six Nations but must now attempt to navigate its way through a daunting pool containing New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.

“One of the things we probably haven’t managed as well as some of the other nations is to accelerate the development of some of the younger players and fast-track them to senior international honours,” said Ruddock (inset).