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One pro team's huge turnover: just two players are at Ulster longer than 27-year-old Iain Henderson

By Liam Heagney
Ulster captain Iain Henderson. (Photo by Tony Marshall/Getty Images)

Iain Henderson is a 27-year-old with plenty of mileage still to go in rugby career, another ten years if he reaches the same veteran age that his club and country colleague Rory Best has just retired at. 

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However, a quick glance around the Ulster changing room is enough of a warning for him to never take for granted what might happen in the rugby life. 

It was April 2012, shortly before the Irish province went on to qualify for only its second-ever European Cup final, when he made his debut, a six-minute cameo as a 20-year-old against Connacht. 

That may only be seven and a half years ago but such is the rate of attrition within the inner Ulster sanctum, he is aware that only two of the current 44-strong first-team squad has been at the club longer, Luke Marshall, a debut-maker in October 2010, and Craig Gilroy, who got his first look in a month later. 

“From when I started at Ulster there might only be two or three guys still in the organisation, so it has massively changed from when I started,” said Henderson to RugbyPass.  

(Continue reading below…)

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“Players come and go and it is about the players that are coming adapting to the surroundings and then progressing, being able to progress in a team environment and provide on the pitch, that is what the key question is,” he reckoned, taking the wholesale turnover – and the latest departure of Best – in his stride.

“We have had big names, big personalities leave us over the last number of seasons and the guys are adaptable. They move on and there will be someone else who will step into his [Best’s] position and fill that very well.”

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As a 2017 British and Irish Lion who is just back in Belfast following duty for Ireland at the World Cup in Japan, what to do when rugby will no longer be his job isn’t something Henderson has spent much time dwelling on. Still, it’s not as if there has never been a fleeting thought regarding what comes next.

“It is in the back of your mind what is happening from what other people are doing and how they are getting on, struggling and not struggling. It is something you have to always keep in the back of your mind and try and be as prepared about it as possible.  

“I have got studies and a few outside ideas, but nothing I hopefully need to use in the immediate future,” he admitted before mentioning some old Ulster pals whose endeavours have caught his attention. 

I have been very impressed with Tommy (Bowe). That [TV presenting] would never be for me but I have been very impressed with how he has slipped into that role. Andrew Trimble is doing well developing a sports app at the minute and going down that route. 

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“There are a few more from a good few years back, like Lewis Stevenson, for example, is currently training to be a doctor. Everyone goes in different routes and everyone decides on different plans.”

Forefront in Henderson’s current plan is guiding Ulster back to the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup. They reached last season’s quarter-finals for the first time since 2014 and they are keen to build on that progress, especially as many observers believe they were unfortunate to lose in Dublin to eventual finalists Leinster.

A trip to Bath next Saturday gets the ball rolling this term, with Clermont and Harlequins waiting in the wings for a young squad remoulded these past 15 months by Dan McFarland, the coach who has got Ulster back up and running after hitting the buffers under Les Kiss.  

“It’s a frustrating loss for us,” said Henderson, reflecting on their last-eight exit after emerging from a winter pool featuring Racing, Scarlets and Leicester.

“However, for a lot of that squad they were either new into that squad or that was one of their first experiences of knockout rugby. That is something they hopefully relished and that experience will drive them on to want to get more. From the outside looking in at pre-season, it looks like it has been doing that.

“It has been good to get back home. It was a long time away and a long preparation before the World Cup, so it was good to get back into the swing of things, get back in with the guys at the Kingspan and knuckle down. 

“The squad definitely have that ability there. It’s harnessing it and making it come out at the right time. As the last few months (in Japan) have shown us, cup rugby is about peaking at the right time and performing on-demand, so that is something that we have got to work on.

“Talking about putting the Ulster back into Ulster is kind of like trying to look back and trying to be something that the players aren’t at the minute. The players at the minute, they are looking at creating something special for themselves, creating a new and valid identity for what they can stand for. Doing that they are working so hard. 

“The amount of effort that is going into it is phenomenal so if the guys get their just dividends, we will kick on this season from what we have done last season… they are very deserving of receiving some sort of justification for the effort that goes in because the effort, the true and honest effort that goes in, is incredible throughout the squad.”

 

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??… next stop ??

A post shared by Iain Henderson (@hendy_102) on

Henderson was the obvious candidate to step-up and replace Best as skipper, but he wasn’t so certain himself of getting that upgrade. “I wasn’t sure I was going to be captain,” he admitted. “Our squad, there is a good number of leaders in it.

“Marcell (Coetzee) is a massive leader for us. Will Addison has captained teams before. Rob Herring has captained Ulster before. He was club captain two or three years ago. I don’t think it would have been fair to assume that I was captain, I don’t think that was correct. 

“There were many other options and that is probably something that when I have captained the team, it has made it easier because the team has a lot of leaders in it and they make it easy to lead the team.

“Rory will tell you himself the changes implemented last season were all positive and it is an opportunity to build on what was put in place last season and progress that, adapt to how the game is changing and move forward.”

Henderson was an Ireland starter in the recent World Cup defeats to hosts Japan in the pool and New Zealand in the quarter-finals. The way that experience disappointingly panned out has him ready to launch into the club seasonm, not sulk and feel sorry for himself.

“There’s probably a little bit of frustration. It’s about channelling the negativity of what happened us over the last couple of months in the right way to ensure we can use that, not as a negative but as a positive to benefit the club and hopefully get results. 

 

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Enjoyable first 2 weeks in Japan … only just getting started ??

A post shared by Iain Henderson (@hendy_102) on

“A lot of it is emotional and mentally preparing yourself for what you are going to do. It is very difficult to put down into words or quantify how that happens. 

“But coming back, there is a willingness to want to get involved, a willingness to want to get back in with your team and integrate back in as successfully as possible and as willingly as possible to be part of the team, to enjoy it, to get yourself involved in team activities because you can be very taken back and say ‘oh, I don’t feel like I want to play for another four weeks’ and distance yourself. 

“The desire to get back in among everyone is something that is massive in rugby and the teams who win things are generally the teams who are close as a unit and that will stand to us this year hopefully.”

WATCH: Iain Henderson was among the line-up of star players at this season’s Champions Cup launch in Cardiff  

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Trevor 2 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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Bull Shark 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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