How Robbie Henshaw made it to the end of the Champions Cup final is a true marker of his toughness and durability.
Racing 92 had Henshaw marked out as a real dangerman in attack and pressed up on him as much as possible. Either by getting in his face or dishing up a big hit, the Racing players let him know he’d have no more than a split second to make each decisions.
That Henshaw still played a key role in his side’s 15-12 victory despite such closer attention only goes to show how much of a quality operator he has become.
At the San Mames, Henshaw led his backline for carries [15] and managed a clean break, offload and three defenders beaten whilst also landing six hefty tackles and hitting more than his fair share of rucks.
Henshaw made the tough decision, in early 2016, to leave Connacht for Leinster. He must have chewed over that call in may of that year when he helped Connacht beat Leinster in the PRO12 final. It was the westerners that looked full of life while Leinster were listless and well beaten.
Two years on, however, and the move has been justified. Henshaw has a European Cup winners’ medal to go with his Grand Slam success with Ireland back in March. He says:
“It’s an unbelievable feeling, to be honest. ou look at the signs that say it’s the one to win and I can now say it definitely is. I can confirm that.
“It’s the best competition and the biggest stage. To come out the other side of it with the gold medal is an awesome feeling.
“When I joined Leinster it was definitely to improve me as a player, improve my skills and to win trophies. It’s great to be here today.
“Last year’s defeat to Clermont [in the semi-final] really spurred us on for this year and we wanted to go all the way, and not feel like that again, this year. It’s a great day.”
Funnily enough, even though he mentioned his newly won gold medal, it was nowhere to be seen.
There had been some food flung around the victorious Leinster dressing room as Henshaw posed for pictures with teammates, and the trophy, but that was not the reason why he removed his chunk of gold.
Sean Cronin, Jack Conan, James Tracy, Jordi Murphy, Joey Carbery, Rhys Ruddock and Luke McGrath all passed through the mixed zone with medals, rightfully and proudly, draped around their necks. Conan joked that he didn’t dare lose his or his mother would be fuming. Not Henshaw, though.
Asked where his own piece of gold was, Henshaw told us:
“Ah, packed away. Keeping it safe. It’s nice, great, but… it should be a good night. But Munster are up next, so… “
And there he trailed off as a French reporter asked about ‘the arm wrestling game’. Henshaw enjoyed the victoru, and the medal, for an hour or so but te medal has been placed in with his luggage.
There are more prizes to play for yet.
