Robbie Henshaw free to plan move after summer

Robbie Henshaw will be free to decide for himself where his future lies beyond this summer.

Speculation linking the Connacht and Ireland centre with a switch to Leinster has been persistent — Munster has also been mentioned, though less so — but David Nucifora is adamant that the IRFU is not moving its players around the country like pawns on a chess board.

“That’s up to Robbie,” said the union’s Performance Director. “I know that sometimes people think that we manipulate the system and tell people where they can play and that’s not the case. The players, when they are off contract, it is totally up to them to decide where to play.” His main concern, he pointed out, is that the top Irish players remain in Ireland, though he also spoke of the less than satisfactory situation whereby Ian Madigan was starting out-half against Argentina in the World Cup on the back of limited time there with Leinster for two seasons.