There are no good times to get sidelined but Robbie Henshaw’s shoulder injury arrived when he was in excellent form.
The Leinster centre had performed superbly to help his team reach the Champions Cup knock-out stages before stepping up for Ireland against France and Italy.
In his his second try against the Azzurri, Henshaw’s shoulder was damaged when grounding the ball under pressure from Tommaso Benvenuti. It was evident, as soon as the whistled went to signal the try, that Henshaw was in considerable pain.
The shoulder popped out in the act of Henshaw scoring the try but the dislocation was not as bad as early pictures may have suggested. Two days later, it was announced that the 24-year-old would miss the rest of the Six Nations after undergoing a “procedure”.
That procedure was indeed surgery but Henshaw, and those around him, set a goal of returning before the end of the season. 10 weeks later and Henshaw is expected to wear the blue No.12 jersey against Scarlets.
Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster will have excited many supporters with these glowing comments on Henshaw:
“It was great to have him back on the field, as 24th man [against Treviso], last week… He’s a world-class player, in my opinion, and the one player you didn’t want to lose when we did. It’s a huge bonus to have him back.
“He’s in the best condition we’ve ever seen him. If you look at how they measure the players – he has achieved his quickest speeds and he’s done his best fitness test – he looks lean and fit. He’s such a good player. He’s been in every meeting so he’s prepped and ready.”
Surpassing previous speed and fitness markers is all well and good but it must be noted that Henshaw has now had two serious shoulder injuries in 20 months. There was the February knock, of course, and the injury that cut short his tour of South Africa in 2018.
Asked if Henshaw’s shoulder has also passed all the required tests, Lancaster responded:
“Obviously. He wouldn’t be given the green light to play if he wasn’t 100% and functioning fine.”
Like many come-backs from prolonged periods on the sideline, the real tests arrive in the middle of high intensity matches and Saturday’s clash against Scarlets is set to be as break-neck and intense as they come.
