Henshaw our ‘solutions man’, says Schmidt

Joe Schmidt is relying on Robbie Henshaw being his “solutions man” when the Leinster star faces England tomorrow from full-back.

It does not quite have the ring of a Superman or Iron Man but if the 25-year-old successfully fills the breach in the absence of Rob Kearney, Ireland’s head coach will have a new superhero at his disposal.

Henshaw will start a Test at full-back for the first time since his Ireland debut against the USA in June 2013 when Les Kiss took charge of the team before Schmidt took full control that autumn. Now, 36 caps later, he returns to the position, one of two changes to the starting XV which beat the All Blacks last November, the other being the return of Conor Murray at scrum-half.

Kearney’s failure to prove his readiness for Test rugby, after playing 60 minutes for Leinster against Scarlets last weekend on his return from a quad injury, has given Schmidt the opportunity to scratch an itch with Henshaw as the last line of defence, a gambit he has been considering seriously since last summer’s series against the Wallabies.

Schmidt said Henshaw needed no persuasion about moving position: “If I said ‘Look Robbie, I’m thinking about putting you at number 8,’ he’d look a bit bemused but he’d say: ‘Yeah, I just need to get the calls. I’ll see Feeky (scrum coach Greg Feek) and make sure I’m nailed on at scrum-time’.

“He is a solutions man. He’s not a ‘that’s a problem for me’. He’s a guy who goes out and says ‘right-o, that’s a challenge, I’m going to find solutions. I am going to grow the solutions so that I can be as complete in that position as I can be’.

“It’s hard to say he’s going to have all the solutions on Saturday because I think everything is a progression, and nothing is linear. Progressions have dips and troughs, and there’s going to be some challenges for him during the game and during the tournament if he stays there, or if Rob Kearney comes in there, or if Jordan Larmour or Will Addison play in that position.

“I do think that we’re looking to broaden people all the time, whether that’s on or off the pitch, and he (Henshaw) broadens himself.

“Our initial thoughts were to potentially play Robbie at full-back in Australia. We had Bundee and Garry Ringrose and Robbie all together, but then for each of the Tests only two of them were available so when you got into the position where we could do what we thought would be a good change up for us.

“So, as I say, you’re always trying to grow the squad.

“I remember when I spoke to Pat (Lam when he was Henshaw’s head coach at Connacht) and said ‘if you get the chance, it’d be great to see Robbie at No 12 in this European Challenge Cup game’.

He said, ‘yeah, if it works out that way we’ll do that’. So, Robbie came into the team having had very little time playing No 12 and 12 is a very different position from having to go back to No 15 but he has still played more at No 15 in his career than he has at 12.

Schmidt also emphasised that it would be premature to write off Rob Kearney as a Test player.

“There isn’t one big game where Rob has not had an impact in big moments. Think back to two years ago in Chicago, Rob one-v-one versus Ben Smith, or in the lead-up to CJ Stander’s try, the way he carried; the lead-up to Garry Ringrose’s try, the pressure we put on the All Blacks with him going up in the air, him counter-attacking, throwing the dummy and getting through into the second line.

“Some of the last-ditch tackles he has made, some of the smart stuff he has done getting into the passing lanes, Beauden Barrett’s off-load springs to mind where he’s in that passing channel and grabs that ball when it looks like they’re in behind us and really dangerous with the All Blacks. So... there have been a number of those really pivotal moments where he has had involvements that have been crucial for us.”

IRELAND: R Henshaw (Leinster); K Earls (Munster), G Ringrose (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Stockdale (Ulster); J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster) - captain, T Furlong (Leinster); D Toner (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster); P O’Mahony (Munster); J van der Flier (Leinster); CJ Stander (Munster)

Replacements: S Cronin (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), A Porter (Leinster), Q Roux (Connacht), S O’Brien (Leinster), J Cooney (Ulster), J Carbery (Munster), J Larmour (Leinster).

ENGLAND: E Daly (Wasps); J May (Leicester), H Slade (Exeter), M Tuilagi (Leicester), J Nowell (Exeter); O Farrell (Saracens, capt), B Youngs (Leicester); M Vunipola (Saracens), J George (Saracens), K Sinckler (Harlequins), M Itoje (Saracens), G Kruis (Saracens), M Wilson (Newcastle), T Curry (Sale Sharks), B Vunipola (Saracens).

Replacements: L Cowan-Dickie (Exeter), E Genge (Leicester), H Williams (Exeter), C Lawes (Northampton), N Hughes (Wasps), D Robson (Wasps), G Ford (Leicester), C Ashton (Sale Sharks).