"It’s been a hell of a journey.” Well, thank goodness he was the one to say it. But it has been a hell of a journey for us too, Robbie!
Hot Press has formed quite a bond with Robbie Henshaw over the last 12 months. Which is why we’ve watched like a proud uncle, as the young Athlone man has blossomed on the international stage. When he first graced our pages last October, he had but three international caps to his name; by the time we caught up with him before the Six Nations, he had made the No. 12 shirt his own. Now, he stands proudly as one of the lynchpins of the Irish team, with the talent to set the World Cup alight.
Fresh off the paddock at the RDS, where Joe Schmidt’s men were being put through their paces, the 22-year- old is philosophical ahead of his first appearance at rugby's global showpiece.
“I certainly didn’t see myself being in this position last year,” he admits, with a smile. “I had trained with the squad for the past two years, so I suppose I knew the systems: how the guys played, what would be expected of me, and the standard where everything was at. All that was left to do was to put my best performances in."
While he was familiar with the set- up, he was still dropped in at the deep end: his first home start was against the formidable South Africa, a match in which he formed a brand-new centre partnership with another international rookie, Jared Payne. Top performances duly arrived – in spades.
“My first home start was an unbelievable feeling,” he reflects. “Listening to the crowd cheer us on was unreal. The buzz you get is addictive. I actually didn’t know Jared at all – apart from playing against him with our provinces – but from day one, we formed a very good relationship in terms of playing together – and off the pitch too, which is always good. We got to know each other’s games more and more as the camp went on. Settling in outside him has been brilliant.”
Of course, Payne is almost eight years Robbie’s senior. The presence of an older – and possible wiser! – head at his side has been invaluable.
“He’s exactly what you want. He's a guy with loads of experience, who knows what he’s at. Of course, he’s a top class player himself, so it’s good for the team. But from a personal perspective, he feeds such good information inside to me, which is what you look for from the man outside you; having his voice there is brilliant. It makes life easier for me. Everything has gone pretty well for us so far in the green shirt, and I’m looking forward to keeping it going.”
While his sterling man-of-the-match performance against England – complete with the only try of the game – was the moment when the world began to really sit up and take notice, Robbie’s overall contribution to the team was widely praised, throughout the Six Nations tournament.
Nevertheless, when pushed for the highlight of a staggering 12 months, his personal achievements are pushed to one side.
“That final game against Scotland is the one I’ll remember for a long time,” he says. “We went out and did the business. The wait, after it, to see what happened in the England v France game was horrendous.”
One has to assume that nails were bitten to the quick in the Irish team room?
“Maybe not that bad!” he laughs. “To be honest, I wasn’t even watching the whole game. I was in and out of the dressing room, doing anything I could – like praying and covering my face with my hands (laughs). All I could hear was the guys roaring. It was incredibly intense up until that final whistle; when it’s that close, nobody has a clue what do to with themselves.”
If there had been a secret camera in the room, would we have seen some of the quiet men of Irish rugby shedding their image and turning into raving lunatics?
“By the end, yeah! A lot of us were up shouting, about an inch from the TV. I can’t remember the whole game, but I certainly witnessed the last few minutes so I know I was one of those who turned rogue, completely in my own zone screaming at the screen. Simon Zebo was beside me, and Peter O’Mahony too, giving it socks, and praying that France would just get the ball off the field so we could lift the cup!”
Which, of course, they did in the end, despite the extraordinary sight of Yoann Huget producing the most Gallic of shrugs and opting for a tap penalty on his own line when a Row X job would have taken us all out of our misery.
Once Rory Kockott did the necessary, though, it was party-time, presumably landing our suited and booted heroes with one hell of a dry cleaning bill.
“Actually, I don’t think we saw the suits again after that night!” Robbie guffaws. “I think a lot of them were ripped up, and there were a lot of torn- up shirts too. We have great memories of being on the pitch in Murrayfield, getting destroyed with champagne. It was very funny, but also very special, the way the Scottish Rugby Union allowed the fans to stay in the stadium and celebrate with us.”
It was a magical finish to Robbie’s first Six Nations, but also a perfect end to Paul O’Connell’s last. One of the all- time Irish greats, O'Connell hangs up his green shirt and jets off to Toulon at the end of the World Cup.
“We don’t really look on the emotional side of it," Robbie says matter-of-factly. "There was no talk about the fact that it was his last home game against Wales or anything like that. There’s a bit of slagging around the dinner table though, asking him how the French lessons are going, or taking sly digs about how he’ll enjoy the sun!”
As gingers do! Joking aside, though, the presence of O’Connell – as well as Jamie Heaslip, Tommy Bowe and the other senior players – is something that is hugely appreciated by the younger guns. “To have those characters around is unbelievable. They really offer a lot to all the younger guys in the squad. It just gives that extra bit of confidence, when they’re out there on the pitch, egging us on. They definitely get you psyched up for the game.”
The pre-tournament build-up has seen other icons providing an unexpected motivational boost for the Irish squad.
“Usain Bolt came in the night before we played England in Twickenham,” a slightly star-struck Robbie recalls. “He spent a couple of hours with us, and had dinner. It was incredible to be that close to him. To me, he’s up there with my biggest sporting heroes. He's a legend of world sport. My mind was blown – I couldn’t believe it. We’ve had Christy Moore in too and Tommy Tiernan – a few interesting characters to break things up a little!”
Of course, if all else fails, there’s always Rala, aka Patrick O’Reilly, baggage master to the Irish team – and the long-suffering foil of many a joke, especially when tension is at its highest.
“He’s always up for a bit of craic, but the night before the game is especially gas,” Robbie grins. “Before we played Wales a few weeks ago, the boys tied him to a trolley, put shoe polish on his face and rolled him into the reception of the Shelbourne Hotel. They just left him there, with people staring at him. It’s all part of the culture, just for a bit of amusement.”
Some comic relief, as you might imagine, is necessary.
“It’s not easy to keep calm and collected,” Robbie confesses. “Your mind’s racing all of the time, thinking of what’s next. But the way they've run the camp is brilliant. We get to go home, we get to see our families, and we get to mix it up and switch off for rest and recovery days. We haven’t been together for massive blocks of time, which is great.”
While we’re sure that Mrs. Henshaw is only delighted to see her son arrive home, the local shopkeepers are probably even more overjoyed. To keep his 6’3”, 16 stone-plus physique in perfect nick, his diet demands up to 4,000 calories a day.
“It’s mum’s job to fill the fridge when I’m coming home,” he says with a smile. “I get the text just before I leave camp – ‘Are you home tonight for sure?’ – so that she can run to SuperValu and get the groceries in (laughs).”
To give him his due, shopping for himself can be a bit tricky these days; being something of a celebrity means that even picking up a pint of milk can take longer than anticipated. “People love talking about rugby, and asking a few questions," he observes. "I have great time for it though. It’s nice that so many people are interested.”
One thing that doesn’t go down too well, though, is getting an earful of the common perception that Ireland’s first two games, against Canada and Romania, will be akin to a walk in the park.
“You can’t approach it like that,” he states firmly. “We just watched Canada playing a tough Fiji team, and you can tell that they’ll be difficult to open up. We also know they’ll be well up for it. They’re used to playing for crowds of 3,000 back in Canada – so in a packed stadium, with 80,000 people, they’ll be massively game for it.”
That said, the likelihood is that the vast majority of those supporters will be Irish – with Robbie’s own crew leading the charge! “My father travels to most of the games anyway," he reveals, "but I have a good few family members coming over, along with a decent number of friends. We know there’s a massive Irish contingent over there anyway, but with travelling support it’ll probably be an Irish takeover! Nearly every second person is telling me they have a ticket for this game or that, and the fans are going to drive us on. They always do, and give us that extra spark.”
The travelling faithful will be heading down Wembley way for Ireland's second game, against Romania – another fixture where an easy afternoon is far from a foregone conclusion.
“They have a huge pack, and they’re seriously physical in terms of tackling and at ruck time. They won’t make life easy for us, so we need to be smart, play to our strengths and stick to the game-plan.”
Those games are followed by dates with a pair of familiar foes, in the shape of Italy and France. Both were put to the sword last February, but Robbie insists those wins mean nothing this time around.
“They’re solid sides, playing better- quality rugby, so we have to be ready for it. France, in particular, are going well. They're sticking to a system and producing good performances. We’ll be hitting our prime form at that point, after three tough games, so the important thing is to get through those three games – and then we'll look to the French.”
Robbie acknowledges a few significant threats in Les Bleus’ midfield ranks – including the aforementioned shredder of Irish nerves.
“Huget, on the wing, has been playing really good rugby the past few weeks," he says. "Mathieu Bastareaud is obviously a big go-to ball carrier for them, and then Wesley Fofana has crazy footwork and is pretty electric. All around, they’re a threat, and we need to be ready for them. In fact, we need to be ready for everyone, because we don’t know who we’re going to come up against if we come through our pool. Anything can happen.”
That, he reveals, might include one or two pieces of magic being pulled from cold storage. “There’ll be a few different tricks – well I’m not sure if they’re tricks – but a few different plays that we've had in the locker for a couple of years.”
Following in the footsteps of Ian Madigan and swapping the No. 12 berth for the scrum-half role will not be one of them.
“No, I didn’t fancy that one!” he laughs. “I think my height might have been a problem in terms of reaching for the ball at every breakdown. There’ll be no problem with Mads there anyway. He’s been practicing away – and he’s a talented footballer, so he’ll be fine.”
The Leinster man may well be asked to dig around the base of the ruck at some point during the first two games. It’s unlikely that anyone will play every minute, and while some players smart at the notion of spending a single second on the sidelines, Robbie accepts that it's part of the masterplan.
“It’s going to be a squad effort, and for that to happen everybody needs to be involved. I’m OK with that. If there’s an injury, or a change to be made, we need people to be sharp on their feet, so if there’s a bit of rotation during the tournament, then it’s going to help keep players primed.”
The strength-in-depth of the squad is one key reason why people are daring to dream that this might be Ireland’s year. If Hot Press were to sneak a peek at the goals the team have set, would lifting the Webb Ellis Cup be the sole target?
“Well, the goal is obviously to win, but more on a game-by-game basis. If we do well in every pool game, then we’ll qualify for the quarter-finals, so that’s the main point right now. Then, we hopefully go one better and get to a semi-final. Anything can happen from there. But it is one step at a time.”
Such a pragmatic approach belies his youth; it’s easy to forget that he’s still the youngest member of the squad, by some distance. What’s Robbie Henshaw's first World Cup memory?
“I do remember Brian O’Driscoll, complete with long hair and gloves, scoring in the corner against Australia in 2003 – but I can’t remember anything else from that tournament, I’m afraid. I can remember ’07 pretty well, but that wasn’t great.”
Indeed it wasn't – and the pressure is immense to do better on this occasion. Far better. As we part ways. he’s off to enjoy a four-day break – a chance to be a normal 22 year old, perhaps?
“I’m going to go home and spend time with my family, because I probably won’t be seeing them for a while. I’ll get to see all my close friends, and I might get away for a night or two with the missus. I’m planning on completely switching off and getting some rest – from there, we’ll be away for five weeks...”
He catches himself. “Actually, hopefully it’ll be seven weeks!”