Robbie Henshaw has reason to tread carefully in Cardiff

Henshaw said it's a "strength" of his that he can switch so readily between inside and outside centre. 

In his 12-year Ireland career, Robbie Henshaw has never won in Cardiff. He was on the losing side in 2015, 2017 and 2021. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Clohessy

Cardiff could never be accused of being the new Rome – in fairness, nowhere could – but there is a hint of previous trips to the Eternal City about Ireland’s latest hop, skip and jump across the water to the Welsh capital.

Wales are, for now and maybe long into the future, the new Italy: the lowest rung on the Six Nations ladder. Simon Easterby takes his side to the Principality Stadium with the question on everyone’s lips not so much who will win but how big the gap will be on the scoreboard.

If Ireland have never traditionally handled the mantle of favouritism well then rarely has a team representing this island gone into one of sport’s acknowledged bear pits further removed from their old status as plucky underdog.

It’s to be expected given the diverging paths the game of rugby has taken in the two Celtic nations but Robbie Henshaw could be forgiven for treading warily as he makes his way up the airplane’s steps in Dublin Airport.

This will be the Leinster centre’s 80th cap. He has ticked off a lengthy list of boxes across that time but he has yet to win in Cardiff having lost on visits there in 2015, 2017 and 2021. He has been there when the Dragon has well and truly roared.

“It’s an incredibly tough place to play. We’ve had some great battles with Wales over the years. Such a passionate crowd. And when the crowd get behind them, and if they get a roll, they’re hard to stop. It’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s going to be a huge test.” 

Daunting as those past trips were, you always knew exactly what you were getting with Warren Gatland’s Wales. Ireland go there this time with a sense of the unknown about the hosts after the Kiwi’s departure and Matt Sherratt’s arrival.

The Cardiff boss has brought in a new attack coach but held on to some of the old staff with it. He has seen fit, too, to draft in Gareth Anscombe who will surely bring some nous and shape to the side from the out-half position.

That would allow Ben Thomas, who Sherratt knows so well at the Blues, to scootch over from No.10 to the inside-centre position he knows so much better. And it may be that another recent call-up, Max Llewellyn, gets dropped in at outside-centre.

That would make for an entirely new 10-12-13 axis to the one that started the dismal loss to Italy at the Stadio Olimpico two weeks ago – the side’s 14th defeat on the trot – so how does Henshaw and his colleagues go about scouting that particular proposition?

“We can look at a bit of Cardiff footage. He was the head coach at Cardiff so you can look at little bits of their detail there. You can look the individuals they have selected, that they have brought into camp so… 

“Like, Gareth Anscombe is a threat definitely. So I think we just need to do our work and make sure and have a look at what they have produced, certainly in the Cardiff Blues and then individually their threats.” 

Wales will have no illusions as to the threat posed by Ireland and, specifically, its midfield.

Easterby has had the luxury of mixing and matching his three world-class centres – Henshaw, Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose – for the first two Six Nations wins against England and Scotland the musical chairs is expected to continue.

That suggests a partnership of Henshaw and Ringrose and it's hard to disagree when the former talks of a “seamless” transition given the links forged by them through long stints with the national team.

It helps that Henshaw is so versatile, if not quite to the extent he once was.

His last try out at full-back was on that disastrous day in 2019 when England shocked Joe Schmidt’s Ireland on the opening day of the Championship in Dublin and it’s not a role he plans on reprising this side of retirement.

“Ah it’s gone. Maybe AIL when I retire.” 

What remains is a very useful versatility in the centre where he can slip easily between duties at 12, which requires the more contact, and 13, where there are more metres to run and a very different defensive mindset is required.

A “hybrid”, as he said himself.

“With last year what happened was that Garry was unfortunately out for a while with a shoulder injury and I happened to play a lot with Leinster in the 13 shirt with Jamie [Osborne] at 12.

“It’s hard to know it, one week at 12 the next it’s… You know you need to be able to do it, you need to be able to play both. It’s probably a strength of mine that I can mix and match between both.

“You challenge each other. I challenge Garry and Bundee to be able to slot into both because in the middle of a game something might happen. You mix and match and move around. You always have to be adaptable.”