ON THURSDAY Iain Henderson spent his day off watching the grass grow — literally. Rory Best had suggested a trip to Builth Wells in central Wales to meet a grassland specialist who had advised him on grazing systems for the family farm. Henderson, whose mother comes from farming stock, was interested in tagging along.
“Rotations of livestock on areas of grass to maximise efficiency of growth from a certain plot of land — that would be the gist of it,” he explains with admirable economy of expression. “We had a lovely wee trip. Jack McGrath came up with us too.
“If you weren’t able to switch off from rugby, you’d end up going crazy. We’ve been in camp since the start of July. A lot of the guys cope well with the build-up to big games and they’re happy enough to be calm on their days off. Joe [Schmidt] expects it of us almost, to switch off and not think about rugby for 24 hours.”
And to avoid talk about him stepping into Paul O’Connell’s boots. Henderson had been enjoying his tournament perfectly well, a 23-year-old with little responsibility other than to show the world just how outrageously well-designed he is for this sport. Suddenly the green No 5 jersey is his, all his. Gulp!
It was suggested to him that all the talk of responsibility and carrying the torch must be draining, a bit distracting from the job at hand in the Millennium stadium this afternoon. His response suggests that he’s temperamentally well-wired for the gig too.
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“I think I’m happy enough setting that to one side,” he says of all the O’Connell comparisons. “I’ve played with Dev [Devin Toner] a good bit in the second row and I’m comfortable there with him. Obviously Paul is a huge loss and it’s massively disappointing. But he was going to be retiring sooner or later, whether it was last weekend or the end of the tournament, so come the Six Nations, I’m sure we would have had similar questions. It has maybe come a little sooner than expected but I’m confident enough between myself and Dev that we will get the job done.”
Personality-wise, he and O’Connell don’t have that much in common. They do share a strong sense of belonging to a club or school where they retain strong bonds. With O’Connell, it’s Young Munster; with Henderson, it’s Belfast Royal Academy, one of the city’s best-known rugby schools — he won a schools cup medal with Ulster teammate Stuart Olding, who is also his house-mate. His father and two elder brothers are all proud “Academicians” and like them, he has turned out for the old boys’ club.
But we’re pretty sure O’Connell isn’t a massive Bruce Springsteen fan, and we know he wasn’t offered a course in actuarial science in Edinburgh, only to switch to pure maths in Queen’s University at Ulster’s suggestion – what a smart piece of business that was. We also know O’Connell doesn’t own a 1971 Austin Mini or a one-year old Weimaraner named Lola.
If the retired Ireland captain is known for being as relentlessly competitive off the pitch as he is on it, Henderson is only now beginning to lose traces of the dopey adolescent. “Extremely bright, though he hides it well,” was Donnacha Ryan’s affectionate description of him.
Only once that we’re aware of did his laid-back nature irk Schmidt. It was in a park in Argentina two summers ago during the build-up to a Test match and Schmidt was walking the forwards through a play when he noticed that his young lock was struggling to stifle a yawn.
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“Yeah, Joe spotted me having a wee yawn,” he admits. “I managed to get it laughed off but it probably helped that we were in a park rather than in a meeting room or a confined space.”
Henderson loves a nap and is quietly proud of his ability to snooze at unlikely times and in the most confined spaces. His napping has been immortalised on Snapchat by budding film-maker and roommate Paddy Jackson, who added a backing track of forest sounds and a whispered David Attenborough-style voiceover: “At two metres tall and more than 120 kilos, Iain Henderson lies in a deep slumber after a vigorous gym sessions. I, for one, don’t want to be around when this beast wakes up.” Brilliant. We saw what this beast could achieve in the second half against France. The plan had been to come on after 50-odd minutes at No 6 but O’Connell’s injury changed that. At least the interval gave him time to get his head right. “Yeah, I was thankful for that,” he says. “Coming off the bench is not always easy but that gave me time to prepare myself to try and add something to the game, to make an impact.”
Within minutes of his arrival, he’d pinched a French lineout throw. After that, you probably spotted how he rag-dolled Bernard Le Roux, all 116kg of him, or maybe how his brilliant footwork regenerated Ireland’s attack in the build-up to Conor Murray’s try. For a big man, he has incredible feet.
He deftly dodges questions about how he has taken the tournament by storm. He’s smart enough to realise such talk only makes him a bigger target for other prodigiously talented youngsters such as Tomas Lavanini (22) and Guido Petti (20), both of whom just happen to be in the Pumas’ engine room this afternoon.
And as for all the Hendy hype?
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“I’d probably prefer to go in under the radar, if I’m honest,” he says.
“Especially before the game, I’d prefer to keep it low-key and keep myself to myself. I won’t let it affect my game even if it does get a bit hectic.”