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Henshaw could make shock positional switch for England match

Robbie Henshaw

Joe Schmidt is allegedly poised to throw an opening weekend Six Nations curveball by possibly selecting midfielder Robbie Henshaw at full-back to face England next Saturday in Dublin.

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With Rob Kearney absent from Ireland’s warm-weather camp in Portugal last week, RugbyPass understands midfielder Henshaw trained in the No 15 position in a development that will add a level of intrigue ahead of Thursday’s team announcement.

Positional changes have been a hot topic in the build-up to the championship. Schmidt’s England counterpart Eddie Jones got great mileage from his claim a few weeks ago that Exeter winger Jack Nowell could potentially operate at openside for England during the championship.

This suggestion was openly ridiculed, a slew of former English internationals bemused that the back three player could suddenly be shunted into a forwards role he has never played in. However, Henshaw has proven pedigree at full-back even though he hasn’t started a match in the position since Connacht’s April 2016 PRO12 demolition of Munster in Galway.

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The 25-year-old made his 2012/13 provincial level breakthrough in the position, even going on to make his Ireland debut at No15 against USA in June 2013. But he has since become an out-and-out midfielder and he returned to action in this role for Leinster’s round six Champions Cup win over Wasps eight days ago before flying to Portugal.

His availability has created a selection headache for Schmidt. Henshaw damaged a hamstring in the lead-up to the November win over Argentina, leaving Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose to star as the combination in the Irish midfield in the following week’s win over New Zealand.

With both Aki and Ringrose now fit and ready for Six Nations duty along with Henshaw, Schmidt could potentially accommodate all three by omitting Kearney.

The long-serving full-back, who was at his best when beating the All Blacks, has had a frustrating winter since then. An injury niggle kept him out of Leinster’s last three European pool matches, forcing him to skip national camp in the Algarve for a PRO14 start last Friday versus Scarlets.

There has been speculation that Schmidt would favour using Leinster’s Henshaw/Ringrose partnership in the Ireland midfield to face England. However, Aki has made himself indispensable since making a November 2017 debut, starting in 12 of Ireland last 15 matches and only missing games against Fiji, Australia (second Test) and USA.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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