Thumbs up for Iain Henderson ahead of the Six Nations

Iain Henderson isn’t out of the woods with the thumb injury which threatened to eat into such a sizeable chunk of his season but the Ulster lock has declared himself fit for Ireland’s Six Nations defence.

The 26-year-old spent five weeks on the sidelines after surgery on the troublesome digit which has been an issue since the 2015 World Cup quarter-final game against Argentina but the initial fear was that he faced a much longer lay-off.

Three months was the doomsday scenario, a diagnosis that would have included the majority of the Six Nations and the back end of Ulster’s Heineken Champions Cup pool campaign, so his presence away to Leicester on Saturday was a boost for club and country.

“It was a goal of mine to come back early,” Henderson explained. “I genuinely didn’t have a clue that I was coming back and would be allowed to play until Tuesday afternoon last week. I trained fully on Tuesday before I went to see the surgeon. Whether or not I should have (trained) is another thing! I said to him, ‘I’m training fully, have good movement and strength in it’, and thankfully the surgeon cleared me. He was happy for me to train the rest of the week and give it a rattle.”

The thumb will still have to be managed going forward — “just something that happens every now and again” — but he is prepared to put up with the complications that will come his way. The 80 minutes banked at Welford Road will be of considerable comfort to Henderson as Ireland’s tournament opener with England approaches but it remains to be seen if he is afforded another run, against Benetton on Friday, or called up immediately by Joe Schmidt. Most of the Ireland squad will spend much of this week in a warm weather camp.

“The guys who are going to Portugal, we’re not 100% sure yet (who they are). Joe likes to play his cards close to his chest, not just with the media but with ourselves as well,” said Henderson who featured prominently throughout Ireland’s incredible 2018.

I’m ready for whatever Joe wants me to do. If he decides I need some game time I’m happy to go out and play at the Kingspan (Stadium) next week. If he wants me to put my feet up for a week then I’ll do that too.

Whenever Henderson reports for duty it will be with a spring in his step having earned a milestone 100th cap for Ulster and, more importantly, marked the occasion with a standout display and a win that ensured the province’s place in a European quarters for the first time since 2014.

Players may say that club results have little bearing on the mood in national camp but Ulster’s representatives have travelled south to Carton House too often on the back of disappointing days not to welcome the extra wind in their sails now.

“It’s good to be able to go down there (to Ireland camp) and I’m sure the other players will say: “well done, it’s great to see you beating the other big teams’. It’s good to be part of a successful group.”