IAIN HENDERSON HAS been in this position before with Ulster. Off the back of a few bad defeats, feeling the pressure and the fans getting on their backs – it’s not a new sensation for the Ireland lock.
He went through the low points of the Les Kiss era, and of the Jono Gibbes era after that, when Ulster weren’t just out of contention for silverware but they were scrambling just to make it into the Champions Cup for the following season.
There were some dark days during those campaigns as the losses piled up and a team in transition continued to muddle their way through with little end reward, the seasons ending with almost a collective sigh of relief rather than a triumphant sense of achievement.
So off the back of two damaging losses against Leinster and Sale Sharks, Henderson knows how to deal with those kinds of setbacks. And on this occasion, there’s no panic in the dressing room.
“There was a time previously we lost to Scarlets away (back in January 2017) after a couple of defeats, and I remember sitting in Llanelli wondering,” recalls the British and Irish Lions second row.
“Ulster Rugby now, compared to Ulster Rugby then, I’m glad I’m not in that changing room then. I’ve few worries about where we’re sat currently.
“Off the back of the weekend, it is difficult. Every club goes through difficult games, difficult times. It’s a cliché but you don’t become a bad team overnight, you don’t lose everything you’ve worked on for the past four years and become a team that can’t produce a good performance.
“It’s a difficult place to be, and the real proof in the pudding of where we’re standing is how we’re going to front up and bounce back this weekend. We’ve a short enough turnaround to get ourselves together and figure out not a solution but to come to terms with how we’re going to present this weekend and we’ll see then.”
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The toughest part for Henderson is that he wasn’t involved at the AJ Bell Stadium last weekend, so he doesn’t have that first-hand hurt of what it was like to be subjected to Ulster’s first ever whitewash in European competition, and their first in any competitive game since 2008.
Still, he would have felt the pain when Monday’s review took place. The prognosis wouldn’t have been a positive one from Dan McFarland as the squad waded through the depths of a 39-0 thrashing at the hands of a team that, realistically, Ulster thought they should be beating.
But the belief, according to Henderson, is that they have the figures in the dressing room to overcome this latest setback and rally back into a position that will see them progress from the pool stages, no matter what fans say behind anonymous handles.
“It’s one of those, all it takes is for someone to shout as loud as they can from the top of their cliff, which happens to be from their phone in their bedroom,” retorted Henderson.
“If you read through players’ comments, they’re told they should leave, they should retire, they shouldn’t be a part of the team, all the time. By this stage, 90% of the players in our squad are used to comments like that and I’m sure that Dan being the man he is and his understanding of how people’s psychology works will know that too.
“If we were to get bogged down by that, I don’t think we would be where we are now.”
Instead, they head into today’s game against defending European champions La Rochelle (5.30pm kick-off), which will be played behind closed doors at the Aviva Stadium after Kingspan Stadium was deemed unplayable due to the frosty conditions – with an optimistic mindset.
It won’t be a classic December Saturday night in Belfast against a French juggernaut for the province but the approach is still much the same: needing a win – or at the very least putting a point on the board – they know they have the capability of pulling it out of the bag when required.
But the Ulster backs are against the wall. Lose this game and they know that progressing from the pool stages becomes a much tougher task having picked up no points in Sale a week ago. Mathematically they’re not eliminated if they lose, but it will make their job that much trickier.
“You lose two games in a pool like that, definitely haven’t got a bonus point in one of them, it puts you in a very, very difficult position. I think the fate is out of your hands, waiting to see what happens in other pools,” warns Henderson, who starts at blindside flanker.
“It would be a poor season for us if we end up losing this one, in terms of European fixtures. I don’t really want to speculate on the result and see where we’re going from there. We’ll maybe have that discussion later on in the season.
“Of all the teams to face, if you want someone to bring to your own patch and try and front up to, this is a perfect opportunity. We’ve played well against big French teams coming here, we’ve played well away to big English teams, and I think that it’s genuinely coming back into selection this weekend, it’s exciting
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend and I can tell you with a fair bit of confidence that all the guys who were playing last week are excited too.”
ULSTER
15. Mike Lowry; 14. Ethan McIlroy, 13. Luke Marshall, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Rob Lyttle; 10. Billy Burns, 9. John Cooney; 1. Rory Sutherland, 2. Tom Stewart, 3. Marty Moore; 4. Alan O’Connor, 5. Sam Carter; 6. Iain Henderson (captain), 7. Nick Timoney, 8. Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16. Rob Herring, 17. Eric O’Sullivan, 18. Gareth Milasinovich, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. David McCann, 21. Nathan Doak, 22. Stewart Moore, 23. Ben Moxham.
LA ROCHELLE
15. Brice Dulin; 14. Dillyn Leyds, 13. Ulupano Seuteni, 12. Jonathan Danty, 11. Pierre Boudehent; 10. Antoine Hastoy, 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow; 1. Reda Wardi, 2. Pierre Bourgarit, 3. Uini Atonio; 4. Romain Sazy, 5. Will Skelton; 6. Rémi Bourdeau, 7. Yoan Tanga, 8. Gregory Alldritt (captain).
Replacements: 16. Quentin Lespiaucq, 17. Thierry Paiva, 18. Joel Sclavi, 19. Ultan Dillane, 20. Paul Boudehent, 21. Thomas Berjon, 22. Levani Botia, 23. Raymond Rhule.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
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Henderson: Sale whitewash hasn't undone four years of good work at Ulster
IAIN HENDERSON HAS been in this position before with Ulster. Off the back of a few bad defeats, feeling the pressure and the fans getting on their backs – it’s not a new sensation for the Ireland lock.
He went through the low points of the Les Kiss era, and of the Jono Gibbes era after that, when Ulster weren’t just out of contention for silverware but they were scrambling just to make it into the Champions Cup for the following season.
There were some dark days during those campaigns as the losses piled up and a team in transition continued to muddle their way through with little end reward, the seasons ending with almost a collective sigh of relief rather than a triumphant sense of achievement.
So off the back of two damaging losses against Leinster and Sale Sharks, Henderson knows how to deal with those kinds of setbacks. And on this occasion, there’s no panic in the dressing room.
“There was a time previously we lost to Scarlets away (back in January 2017) after a couple of defeats, and I remember sitting in Llanelli wondering,” recalls the British and Irish Lions second row.
“Ulster Rugby now, compared to Ulster Rugby then, I’m glad I’m not in that changing room then. I’ve few worries about where we’re sat currently.
“Off the back of the weekend, it is difficult. Every club goes through difficult games, difficult times. It’s a cliché but you don’t become a bad team overnight, you don’t lose everything you’ve worked on for the past four years and become a team that can’t produce a good performance.
“It’s a difficult place to be, and the real proof in the pudding of where we’re standing is how we’re going to front up and bounce back this weekend. We’ve a short enough turnaround to get ourselves together and figure out not a solution but to come to terms with how we’re going to present this weekend and we’ll see then.”
The toughest part for Henderson is that he wasn’t involved at the AJ Bell Stadium last weekend, so he doesn’t have that first-hand hurt of what it was like to be subjected to Ulster’s first ever whitewash in European competition, and their first in any competitive game since 2008.
Still, he would have felt the pain when Monday’s review took place. The prognosis wouldn’t have been a positive one from Dan McFarland as the squad waded through the depths of a 39-0 thrashing at the hands of a team that, realistically, Ulster thought they should be beating.
But the belief, according to Henderson, is that they have the figures in the dressing room to overcome this latest setback and rally back into a position that will see them progress from the pool stages, no matter what fans say behind anonymous handles.
“It’s one of those, all it takes is for someone to shout as loud as they can from the top of their cliff, which happens to be from their phone in their bedroom,” retorted Henderson.
“If you read through players’ comments, they’re told they should leave, they should retire, they shouldn’t be a part of the team, all the time. By this stage, 90% of the players in our squad are used to comments like that and I’m sure that Dan being the man he is and his understanding of how people’s psychology works will know that too.
“If we were to get bogged down by that, I don’t think we would be where we are now.”
Instead, they head into today’s game against defending European champions La Rochelle (5.30pm kick-off), which will be played behind closed doors at the Aviva Stadium after Kingspan Stadium was deemed unplayable due to the frosty conditions – with an optimistic mindset.
It won’t be a classic December Saturday night in Belfast against a French juggernaut for the province but the approach is still much the same: needing a win – or at the very least putting a point on the board – they know they have the capability of pulling it out of the bag when required.
But the Ulster backs are against the wall. Lose this game and they know that progressing from the pool stages becomes a much tougher task having picked up no points in Sale a week ago. Mathematically they’re not eliminated if they lose, but it will make their job that much trickier.
“You lose two games in a pool like that, definitely haven’t got a bonus point in one of them, it puts you in a very, very difficult position. I think the fate is out of your hands, waiting to see what happens in other pools,” warns Henderson, who starts at blindside flanker.
“It would be a poor season for us if we end up losing this one, in terms of European fixtures. I don’t really want to speculate on the result and see where we’re going from there. We’ll maybe have that discussion later on in the season.
“Of all the teams to face, if you want someone to bring to your own patch and try and front up to, this is a perfect opportunity. We’ve played well against big French teams coming here, we’ve played well away to big English teams, and I think that it’s genuinely coming back into selection this weekend, it’s exciting
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend and I can tell you with a fair bit of confidence that all the guys who were playing last week are excited too.”
ULSTER
15. Mike Lowry; 14. Ethan McIlroy, 13. Luke Marshall, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Rob Lyttle; 10. Billy Burns, 9. John Cooney; 1. Rory Sutherland, 2. Tom Stewart, 3. Marty Moore; 4. Alan O’Connor, 5. Sam Carter; 6. Iain Henderson (captain), 7. Nick Timoney, 8. Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16. Rob Herring, 17. Eric O’Sullivan, 18. Gareth Milasinovich, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. David McCann, 21. Nathan Doak, 22. Stewart Moore, 23. Ben Moxham.
LA ROCHELLE
15. Brice Dulin; 14. Dillyn Leyds, 13. Ulupano Seuteni, 12. Jonathan Danty, 11. Pierre Boudehent; 10. Antoine Hastoy, 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow; 1. Reda Wardi, 2. Pierre Bourgarit, 3. Uini Atonio; 4. Romain Sazy, 5. Will Skelton; 6. Rémi Bourdeau, 7. Yoan Tanga, 8. Gregory Alldritt (captain).
Replacements: 16. Quentin Lespiaucq, 17. Thierry Paiva, 18. Joel Sclavi, 19. Ultan Dillane, 20. Paul Boudehent, 21. Thomas Berjon, 22. Levani Botia, 23. Raymond Rhule.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
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To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Champions Cup Iain Henderson La Rochelle Ulster