VIDEO: Chris Henry focused on pitch battles as heart problems in the past

Chris Henry would prefer to talk rugby, but the Ulster flanker is far too nice a chap to demur when the conversation circles back towards last November and the morning when he was taken ill with what proved to be a defect in his heart wall.

He has told the story many a time now: when he got the all-clear, when he returned for Ulster and, after many more times besides, here again now in the wake of his selection to start for Ireland for the first time since that scare prior to the South Africa game in Dublin.

“Look, as time goes on, hopefully it is something I’ll never forget, but I definitely hope that you guys forget it. There’s a lot more to me than people remembering me getting sick in November. Of course it was something that was extremely scary and traumatic, but I’ve certainly moved past it.