Henderson: Ireland must work on getting out of the blocks faster

Ulster’s Iain Henderson. ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Iain Henderson was forced to spend his summer watching rather than participating in Ireland’s historic defeats of the All Blacks. 

Yet if there is one work-on from that ground-breaking 2-1 series win in New Zealand that the Ulster captain picked up on two months ago, it is the need for Andy Farrell’s men to hit their stride consistently from the first whistle.

Henderson, 30, will hope to be back in the fold in time for the November series opener against South Africa following the knee injury that prompted his departure from Auckland before the opening Test at Auckland’s Eden Park on July 2.

He underwent surgery on his return to Belfast and also had a string of operations to fix ongoing finger issues, as the plethora of scars across his right hand attest and is targeting a return for Ulster’s two-game tour to URC rivals to the Lions and Sharks in October. Yet while he was licking his wounds, Henderson not only delighted in the comeback from that first Test defeat with back-to-back wins in Dunedin and Wellington the 68-capped lock also identified the main area of improvement for Farrell’s men ahead of their clash with the world champion Springboks.

Ireland had drawn first blood at Eden Park when Keith Earls scored the opening try inside six minutes only for an implosion in the second quarter that saw the All Blacks surge into a 28-5 half-time lead and eventual 42-19 victory. That was a concern, no matter how well Farrell’s men recovered to win the series.

"That's something that Ireland have to constantly work on,” Henderson said. “That first Test, I don't think we got it quite the way we should have. Second and third obviously, things came together a lot better.

"It's something that will be massive for us, ensuring that we don't take a game or two to get into that rhythm again.

"That's something we talked about in New Zealand and something the coaches might have found frustrating, the fact that we didn't just step back into it.

"We had a relatively good finish to the Six Nations playing like that. A shaky enough start to the Six Nations getting back into the rhythm of things. So hopefully that's something that's a massive work-on for us, ensuring we can do that at the flick of a switch."

Speaking at the URC’s media day outside London ahead of Ulster’s season-opening derby at home to Connacht on September 17, Henderson acknowledged the ongoing disappointment of an encouraging season that fell away to a semi-final loss to eventual champions the Stormers in Cape Town, extending their trophy drought into a 17th season.

"It has been incredibly frustrating over the last number of years,” he said before adding: “In some ways, it's comforting to know we're there or thereabouts, we are able to do it. But finally crossing the line is the next step. If I knew how to do it, I would have tried to do it these last 10 years."