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'He's a quality player' - Henshaw can't wait to play alongside Elliot Daly again
By PA
Robbie Henshaw insists the British and Irish Lions are ready to meet South Africa’s physical onslaught in Saturday’s crucial series opener at Cape Town Stadium.
The Springboks will be playing only their second Test since lifting the 2019 World Cup and will target Warren Gatland’s men with their ferocious pack, suffocating defence and aerial dominance.
Only once before have the Lions lost the first game but gone on to win the series – a distinction held by Finlay Calder’s 1989 tourists – to raise the stakes for the collision.
Henshaw is making just his third appearance of the tour after being hampered by a hamstring injury, but the Ireland centre knows what is coming after facing the Springboks on four previous occasions.
Henshaw said: “We are massively ready. We’ve done a lot of contact work, we’ve had a lot of games now to date against tough opposition and big men down here in South Africa.
“We are ready and we have to expect a big kicking battle on our hands and big men running at us up front.
“It’s going to be a tough battle up front and the battle at the gainline will be huge. They’ll be well up for it, there will be huge intensity to the game.
“We have to try and dominate the gainline in the centres and get go-forward for the Lions.”
Henshaw will continue his midfield partnership with Elliot Daly that was seen for 57 minutes of last Saturday’s rout of the Stormers – one of only two combinations tested by the Lions so far on tour.
The Irishman will provide ball-carrying grunt, power in defence and smart distribution, acting as a foil to the natural athleticism and instinctive play of Daly.
“It’s a really exciting partnership with Elliot,” Henshaw said. “His game knowledge and attacking skill set are second to none in the game. He’s a top class player.
“His defensive reads are also quality. I’ve only played with him two or three times in the last two tours but it’s great to partner up with him – he’s a quality player.
“We roomed together in 2017 and we played a bit. He played mostly at 15 but I did play a bit with him at 13 in 2017. We do have a bit of craic off the pitch, he’s a great lad. It’s building nicely.”
Confronting the Lions’ midfield will be the World Cup-winning pairing of Damian De Allende and Lukhanyo Am.
Bundee Aki has been playing the role of the hard-running De Allende in training as Henshaw continues a rivalry he knows well from the provincial stage in Ireland.
Henshaw said: “I’ve played Damian about five times already this year just within the PRO14. But this is solely Lions versus South Africa.
“It’s going to be a huge test but I’ll have a chat after with him as always. He’s a great player and a great guy as well.”
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Warren, if you think you should stay on coaching Wales, you are beyond deluded. If you love Wales & Welsh rugby as much as you say you do (& I'm sure you probably do) you should resign immediately so this once proud & passionate rugby nation can rebuild without you. How many of your players will make the British & Irish Lions squad.?
It's time to walk the plank.!
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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