Robbie Henshaw faces long spell on sidelines

Connacht’s star player Robbie Henshaw will be out of action for up to six weeks with a fractured hand.

Having started at full-back in only his second Pro 12 game this season, Henshaw suffered the metacarpal fracture in the last couple of minutes of Connacht’s much-celebrated first win over Munster in Thomond Park in 29 years.

The Ireland centre, who had played a big part in Bundee Aki’s decisive try that resulted in Connacht’s 18-12 victory, had contested the restart when the injury occurred.

“After we scored Bundee’s try, the kick off went to Robbie. He went up in the air and there was a collision, said Connacht coach Pat Lam.

“And when he came down, you can see on the video that he is holding his hand. We finished the last play, and straight away after the game we could see it was blown up.”

The Ireland centre was to undergo surgery at the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry yesterday, ruling him out of action for the crunch festive interprovincials with Ulster and Leinster, and the back-to-back European games with Newcastle.

It is another blow to Connacht as they now head to Cardiff looking for only their second win in Arms Park in 12 seasons in a bid to maintain their pole position in the Guinness Pro 12. Henshaw’s loss has also been exacerbated by injuries to No 8 Eoghan Masterson and prop Denis Buckley.

Masterson, having suffered a thumb fracture, and Buckley, with a high ankle sprain, are both expected to be sidelined for three weeks, while open side Nepia Fox-Matamua’s injury has been confirmed as an ACL, ruling him out for the season.

“We have had a pretty hard run of injuries, but what we have been doing is around teamwork, and the next guy just steps in,” says Lam.

“We have a lot of confidence in the fact that we went down to a Munster team and they were gunning for us. It was top of the table and a lot of physicality was talked up before by both teams. Ultimately we came away with a good win based on what we do as a team. To win it was special for guys like Ronan Loughney, John Muldoon — local boys who have been here for a while, and that is one they can tick off, and then we move on. When I was first here I was asked,’ how are you going to get consistency?’ I think we are now eight games on the trot, and it’s about being consistent every day in what we do.