Iain Henderson brings lifetime of lessons and sense of calm to Ireland captaincy

Ireland's Iain Henderson. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

Iain Henderson, with his bags packed and one foot all but out the door, was set for Scotland and the life of a university student when the offer of a sub-academy place with Ulster dropped on his doorstep.

It was more or less out of the blue.

Who can say how many steps it took for the 28-year old to reach a point where he could lead an Ireland test team out onto the park, but few among them have held such significance as the day his father suggested he stay at home a wee bit longer.

“I spoke to my dad and he said that opportunities like this don’t come up too often,” Henderson explained back in 2019. “Maybe give it a go for a year and see if you can defer your course. I suppose, since then I’ve never really looked back.”

He will be the 108th man to lead Ireland out at senior level when they face the French tomorrow. Ulster captain since succeeding Rory Best shortly before the last World Cup, he will do so with a ringing endorsement from head coach Andy Farrell.

“He’s always been a bright guy that analyses things deeply. He’s got a real sense of care for his teammates, he can rationale his thoughts on what others are going through etc, and really bring a calmness to the squad.

“He’s worked really hard on his leadership over the time that he’s been captain at Ulster and, since he’s been brought into the leadership group here over the last year, he’s really come on in that front. When Hendy speaks, people tend to listen.”

A self-confessed maths geek who has studied the subject at Queens in Belfast and at The Open University, he has admitted to a habit of poring over match stats and both Keith Earls and Cian Healy have echoed Farrell in highlighting that intelligence.

“He’s a great leader and [has] an unbelievable brain for rugby,” said Healy. “A lot of players put time and effort into their leadership skills and I’m sure he’s done that. It’s something that has to be worked on. It’s not something that just comes to people. You work on your leadership ability and your role.”

Henderson has learned from some of the best. Johann Muller, during his stint at Ulster, taught him the value of action rather than words, the merit in doing that bit extra at training, and the benefits to be accrued in dissecting and reconstructing the lineout.

Paul O’Connell, now his forwards coach with Ireland, imparted many of the same lessons. Both did so almost subliminally. So did Rory Best whose general demeanour and easy manner in dealing with others informed the younger forward more and more as time went on.

Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster has given a lot of thought to the prevalence of introverts in the Leinster dressing room and a glance around the Irish equivalent would suggest that the same category of personality holds sway there.

CJ Stander aside, was there any other obvious candidate? Rhys Ruddock has captained club and country in the past but he is making a first Six Nations start at the age of 30 and he is similar to Henderson in terms of persona anyway.

“I don’t get fired up very often,” the latter said two months ago. “And when it comes to game time it’s time to work. There are a lot of guys who get really fired up in training and fired up when they don’t get things right, whereas I try to bring a more calm approach.”

Not exactly Johnny Sexton, then, and it may be a particularly valuable trait after what has been a turbulent week.

Ronan O’Gara touched on this Zen-like approach in the past when he suggested that Henderson could add a bit of dog to his game and there is the sense that we have yet to see him really dominate on the international stage over a prolonged period of time.

There have been numerous glimpses: his performances with the midweek Lions in 2017 and against Scotland at the 2019 World Cup among them. Sean O’Brien and Donnacha Ryan are among those to have described him as world-class at one stage or another.

It’s been a slow burn, if truth be told, for a man with his attributes. Fourteen of Henderson’s first 17 caps came off the bench and just over half of his 59 appearances to date have been recorded via a place in the starting line-up.

The last of those came last week when he came off the bench for the stricken James Ryan but he delivered a superb display on the back of what was a two-month absence from the game stretching back to the Autumn Nations Cup.

A timely reminder of what it is he is capable of.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Healy. “I just put myself in those boots and think I’d be in absolute bits if I was in that position so, yeah, you can’t be surprised by what some people are capable of in here.”