Robbie Henshaw marked his return to action on Friday night in typical Henshaw fashion.
Strong carries married with a solid defensive shift all helped to contribute to Ireland’s 22-19 win over Argentina. Henshaw’s performance was even more remarkable as it was only his second appearance of the season.
A solitary outing for Leinster at the end of October has been his only run-out this season. But the Athlone native showed no signs of rustiness as he helped his country return to winning ways after their recent defeat to New Zealand.
“I was sucking some big breaths towards the end of the first half,” joked the Athlone native on his return to the international scene. “But feeling ok, but I’d say tomorrow will be a different story,” added Henshaw.
“It was a hugely physical test and you can see the physicality that Argentina have in their tackles. They really put everything into it and I thought the defended very well today.”
The game was only minutes old when Henshaw spotted a gap in the visitor’s backline to make a break which helped to ignite fires in the bellies of both players and supporters after last weeks tame affair with the All-Blacks.
“It’s nice to get back playing and get a bit of space. I think the first half, it felt really good. Some nice touches from everyone and it felt like we were imposing our game nicely on them, and all the work we had done during the week was coming onto the pitch in the game. So, it was a positive first half.”
The crowd at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night turned up the noise levels and the players responded in kind by showing more enterprise and delivering a much-improved performance on both sides of the ball.
“We spoke about attacking the space and getting the ball out to the edges to the likes of Mack (Hansen) and James Lowe. I think we put emphasis on that and we executed it well in that first half. The second half now wasn’t as pretty. We came a little bit unstuck but we’ll get a look at it on Monday and reassess”.
Henshaw was joined in the backline on Friday night by Sam Prendergast and Jamie Osborne. Two of Ireland’s latest emerging stars. The duo may only have 3 caps between them, but Henshaw is already excited with what he sees.
“They’re flying at it. Honestly,” Henshaw says.
“You see them coming in, the likes of Sam, not a bother. They’re flying at it on the training pitch. It’s a huge occasion for any player getting their first cap. I remember back in 2013 when I get mine and it was one of the best days of my career.
“But the likes of James and Sam have come in and fitted in seamlessly and they have really dealt with the pressures of international rugby really well. So, the sky’s the limit for both of them. I think they are just going to get better and better.”
