Iain Henderson: John Cooney will be switched on for Ulster

'Cooney’s been in and out of squads, he’s been dropped, he’s switched teams and thankfully I think we’ve had the best version of John Cooney there’s ever been'

Iain Henderson (left) is confident John Cooney will be on top of his game against Toulouse. ‘Cooney’s been in and out of squads, he’s been dropped, he’s switched teams and thankfully I think we’ve had the best version of John Cooney there’s ever been.’  Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

So John Cooney is back, although Iain Henderson says he was never away. In fact, not for one second was the much-travelled scrum-half mentally marked absent during the week when he encountered his first setback as an Ulsterman.

Since replacing the irreplaceable Ruan Pienaar three years ago Cooney has been Ulster’s MVP, until last week that is.