'He doesn't seem to get fazed by the occasion' - Henshaw admires ...
A loss one week, a win to follow it up, but the questions keep coming about an Ireland team that, by their own admission, has yet to find then best of themselves as they turn the halfway mark of these November internationals.
Whatever about the details, it’s worth saying that the introspection levels would be off the charts had Argentina come up with a way to get over the line as they laid siege to the Irish 22 in that tense end game at the Aviva Stadium on Friday evening.
As it is, a 22-19 scoreline for the hosts is not to be sniffed at.
“A win is a win,” said Robbie Henshaw. “Tricky game but it was vitally important we got a win this week, especially considering how last week went. It wasn’t perfect. It was a tricky kind of second-half. We felt very good in the first half.
“It felt like we were flowing and then, through little bits of indiscipline, the penalty count again probably stopped us [getting] in our stride and gave Argentina a bit of momentum in the second-half. Loads to work on but a win is a win.”
Ireland were very good in that first-half. The attack clicked in a way that it hadn’t against the All Blacks seven days earlier and it produced tries for Jack Crowley, Mack Hansen and Joe McCarthy. Tadhg Beirne had another ruled out.
Jamison Gibson-Park was his usual self, Jack Crowley was in the flow at out-half and Henshaw himself was a tour de force at inside-centre as the host team threatened to end the game as a contest before the Pumas could find their stride.
“We were putting pressure on them in how we were attacking them in our phased play. We had good quick ball and we were playing on the front foot and playing to space as well so a lot of the things that we worked at during the week were coming out in the first-half.”
Henshaw ascribed the second-half slump that followed, when Ireland failed to score and all but lost their way, as a “mental switch-off” and one that gave the visitors the room to eke their way back into the game.
He identified penalties – they coughed up 13 in all – and an over-reliance on a running game when the smarter play might have been to play territory as reasons for the turnaround. He was right on both accounts.
There are times when Ireland look to proscribed to a style of play with ball in hand but then Crowley tried one unsuccessful cross kick that went straight to touch and you could legitimately wonder why they didn’t show more patience.
Damned if you do or don’t, this is how it is when things aren’t going to plan.
As for Henshaw, he was superb in what was only his second game of the season. Ireland are blessed with world-class centres but it feels as if Henshaw is, ludicrously, under-appreciated. This is a man who played a starring role with the British and Irish Lions, after all.
“It felt good,” he said of his first Test of the season. “First half I was… It’s always tough coming back into an international game, but I felt good in the game. But plenty more for me to work on and get better at.
“I slipped off a few tackles in the first-half in particular, so I’ve to clean up there. The lungs were in for a kind of a shock towards the end of that second-half. Building on match fitness is probably a priority for me.”
It was a bigger night again for his Leinster teammate Sam Prendergast who came on for Crowley just after the hour for a Test debut. And the 21-year old showed immediately that he has the game and the mental strength for this level.
Henshaw touched on how calm and composed the young out-half was.
“Yeah, it's probably just his presence on the pitch. He doesn't seem to get fazed by any occasion. He deals with pressure very well and he's building on his game, he's getting better and better.
“He's had some great sessions over the last few weeks so he's definitely a huge talent. Good players always look like they have time on the ball and he definitely has that.”
