Henshaw set for No13 shot against Springboks
Joe Schmidt has dropped a massive hint that Robbie Henshaw will be given his shot at outside centre against South Africa tomorrow week.
The 21-year-old Athlone native ran in the No13 channel at the open training session at the Aviva Stadium this morning and is the odds on favourite to win his fourth cap in daunting circumstances against the Springboks.
The rising Connacht star shadowed Brian O’Driscoll through last season and has had to be patient since winning his third cap off the bench against Australia last November.
However, when asked if Henshaw was ready for the challenge, Schmidt said: “In nine days time, we’ll know.”
“I don’t think you’re ever going to know,” he continued. There could be better introductions, more gradual introductions. It’s a massive ask, we know Jean de Villiers a little bit, Jan Serfontein is a player we know a bit less about but he’s a good reader of the game."
“There’s a good challenge for him, whether he’s ready for it we’ll find out.”
Mike Ross took a very limited part in training at Lansdowne Road, but his lack of game time remains a concern as the New Zealander contemplates a front-row injury crisis.
“Absolutely, it’s a concern,” he said. “Mike has been working very hard in his defence, but there’s nothing like game conditioning and awareness.
“If it was a perfect world, things might be different and it’s still an incredibly exciting challenge to play one of the form teams in the world, the players will be motivated for that; we’re not just sure what players they will be.”
Schmidt resisted temptation to pull any of his other front-rows out of provincial action this weekend.
“It’s a catch 22, Rodney Ah You, because Nathan White has been starting, needed game time, Tadhg Furlong needed games, Declan Fitzpatrick has been massively underplayed because of injury and Stephen Archer has not had a lot of games,” he said.
“We’re just going to hold our breath, hope those guys came through.”
