‘It would be the highlight of our careers if we were able to do something special this year’

Iain Henderson has a burning desire to finally get over the line with Ulster.

SINCE FIRST MAKING his senior international bow in November 2012, Iain Henderson has grown accustomed to lifting silverware in the green of Ireland.

A three-time winner of the Six Nations – including the Grand Slam triumph of 2018 – the Ulster lock also helped his country to secure a Triple Crown at the end of this year’s Championship. Success has eluded Henderson thus far at club level, however, with the most recent entry on Ulster’s roll of honours being a Celtic League title back in 2006.

The Craigavon man was just 14 years of age when Mark McCall guided the northern province to glory in the same season that Munster claimed the Heineken Cup for the first time.

Having featured in the Pro12 and Pro14 finals of 2012/13 and 2019/20 respectively, Henderson understandably has a burning desire to finally get over the line with Ulster. A United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the aforementioned Munster in Belfast tomorrow week represents the next step on the road to potentially achieving this goal in the current campaign, something he believes would be career-defining for himself.

“Obviously it would be incredible to see us winning something. A lot of that for me would be to see the younger guys winning something. They’ve put in so much over the last few years and, seeing them progressing, it would be great to get them into a winning habit or winning mentality,” Henderson acknowledged.

“It would be great to have the guys who were born – frustratingly for us! – after the millennium to be able to be winning stuff. To set them off at the start of their careers on a streak of winning trophies would be phenomenal.

“For us lads, it would be something that we’ve been working towards and aspiring towards for a long time. Not through lack of trying, but a few very frustrating games, frustrating knockout matches. It would be phenomenal, it would definitely be the highlight of our careers if we were able to do something special this year.”

While defeating Munster – who are without a trophy themselves since 2011 – is well within their grasp, it is quite likely Ulster will also have to overcome Leinster in order to bag the inaugural URC crown. Leo Cullen’s men were the standard bearers under the competition’s previous guise as the Pro14, winning no fewer than four league titles on the bounce.

This weekend sees them chasing a fifth European star against La Rochelle in the Champions Cup decider at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, before resuming their URC campaign with a last-eight meeting at home to Glasgow Warriors in the RDS on Saturday week.

The strength of the Leinster squad is reflected in the fact that a second-string selection were able to secure a bonus-point victory over Munster at the Aviva Stadium five days ago, despite their opponents needing a win to avoid hitting the road in the knockout rounds. Of all the qualities that Ulster’s interprovincial rivals possess, it is the cohesion in their play – regardless of the personnel involved – that impresses Henderson the most.

“Whenever they have a team out, irrespective of who is playing, one thing that is always very impressive is that you could almost recognise they are Leinster without knowing who’s playing. The way Leinster play, their shape is very impressive. How well drilled it is throughout their whole team and throughout a whole game when they play it,” Henderson added.

“One of the other teams who have done it well before, it sticks out in my mind, the year Connacht won the Championship [in 2016]. They got into the flow of games. I felt it worked really well for Connacht and Leinster do that really well now too.”

Sitting alongside Henderson in a remote United Rugby Championship media call yesterday afternoon was his provincial and international colleague Rob Herring. A native of Cape Town who qualified to represent Ireland through his Belfast-born grandfather, the dependable hooker has watched with great interest how the South African teams have progressed in the URC.

Even though the Lions missed out on a knockout spot, the Stormers (Herring’s hometown team), the Bulls and the Sharks have all made it through to the last-eight. After initially struggling to find their feet, Herring feels this quartet have proven themselves to be worthy additions to northern hemisphere rugby.

“I think it has been great. Obviously it has refreshed the league and we feel like there’s a lot more interest around it now. Obviously at the start it was difficult because the South African teams were travelling a lot and finding their way with a lot of their Springbok players missing,” Herring said.

“The way they’ve come back in the second part of the season in their home stretches, it has been pretty incredible. You speak to any player who has gone over there and played matches this year, it is a tough place to go and play. Physical games, just relentless and they have three teams in the top-eight. It just proves how great they have been.”

Daire Walsh

‘We had it out with each other’ – Tough Munster conversations following Leinster defeat

Johann van Graan’s charges delivered a below-par performance against a fringe Leinster team last weekend.

CHRIS FARRELL ADMITTED yesterday there have been some tough conversations within the Munster squad in the wake of their disappointing United Rugby Championship defeat to a fringe Leinster team at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.

Coming into the game needing a win to guarantee a home quarter-final at the end of the inaugural URC season, Johann van Graan’s charges proceeded to deliver a below-par performance that ultimately saw them losing out on a final score of 35-25. With his side already guaranteed top spot in the final standings, the Leinster 23 that Leo Cullen selected for this game bore little or no resemblance to the one that will tackle La Rochelle in the Champions Cup showpiece at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille this weekend.

Nonetheless, the Blues came away with a deserved bonus point win to leave Munster facing a last-eight trip against Ulster in Belfast on Friday week.

“We had a pretty honest assessment about how things went as a group and in our mini-groups we had it out with each other about what we thought we could have done better. We weren’t on it from the start. We were beaten physically in certain areas and we were really disappointed with our breakdown,” Farrell explained on a URC media call.

“Honestly, we probably got bullied a little bit there in the first 10 minutes and that set the tone for the rest of the game. There are a few other areas that we’re really disappointed with. We didn’t exit very well. We panicked a little bit. We felt we were really well prepared for it and that’s the disappointing thing.

“We felt like going into the game we had good knowledge of what to expect from that Leinster team. We knew where they were dangerous and we thought we were well prepared, but we didn’t act like that when the game came to it. It was something we were really disappointed with and from the conversations we’ve had today [Tuesday], we’ve taken a lot out of that.

“Hopefully we’ll have taken some learnings. It still feels a little bit raw to have lost like that, but we feel like we’ve learnt from it already and we can turn a corner now going into the end of this week. Put another couple of good training days behind us and be in a better position from where we are now.”

Given the nature of their latest reversal to Leinster [they also lost out to their arch rivals at Thomond Park on 2 April], there will inevitably be question marks over Munster’s confidence levels heading into that forthcoming duel with Ulster. However, Farrell is adamant this won’t be a factor as they look to salvage a largely frustrating campaign.

“I wouldn’t say it knocks our confidence. We 100% have to put our hands up and say we didn’t perform. Against a team like Leinster, if you aren’t at 100% you’re never going to win the game. I wouldn’t say it dents our confidence because we know how difficult we can be to play against, when we’re up around 100%.

“When we’re more clinical, when we’re decisive with what we’re doing. Playing our game plan without deviating when the pressure comes on. It’s trying to understand why that happened at the weekend is the big thing for us. I don’t think it’ll have an implication on how we go against Ulster. Hopefully between now and then we can put a few things right.”

Given two of the South African clubs – the Stormers and the Bulls – finished the regular season of the URC in the top-four, having to travel up to Kingspan Stadium in nine days’ time could hardly be regarded as a logistical headache for Munster.

In fact, the Reds find themselves coming face-to-face with an Ulster side they have already defeated home and away in this year’s competition. Yet although Tyrone native Farrell played a significant role in getting one over on his home province in Belfast last month, he can’t see it having any bearing on how their latest duel will pan out.

“There’s not a huge amount we can take away from winning up there this year. I think it’s going to be a completely different task. It’s not a game that we can compare to what we did the last time we were up there. It’s a really hostile place to play and they’re now a team that have one front to compete on, like us,” Farrell added.

“They’ll want to right that wrong and I’d expect a reaction from them. They didn’t like being beaten by Munster in Belfast. They were disappointed with that last time. It’s going to be a huge evening up there next Friday night and one that we’re not going to shy away from.”

Daire Walsh

Chris Farrell: Leinster ‘bullied’ us in the first 10 & that set the tone for the rest of the game