Iain Henderson: We need to have our heads screwed on against Japan

Ulster’s captain spoke to the media this week ahead of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series clash with Japan on Saturday.

What kind of game will we expect from Japan?

They are impressive; they shock teams and audiences. We need to understand they’re going to play with tempo and speed; they have incredible pace throughout the whole team which is exciting to watch. To play against them, it’s incredibly difficult. It feels like they might be trying to get the upper hand but if we’re aware of that being the way they want to play, we can dictate the pace of the game with our own team’s tempo.

They work very well as a unit and have a lot of players who do simple jobs really well. That is something we need to be fully aware of and make sure we have our heads screwed on. I’m incredibly excited about the game and I think everyone else should be, too.

Johnny Sexton is approaching his 100th cap for Ireland – what stands out for you about him?

Johnny has been incredible for me throughout my career, and has been for a lot of Irish players who have been fortunate enough to play with him. I think right from when I started, he has been here and he has been a real guide for the team and a lot of help for the players. His determination, his drive and desire to win are almost second-to-none of anyone I’ve ever played against. He has coupled that with great leadership skills and I think that’s probably what has got him to earning his 99 caps so far. There are moments in games that stand out but not only that, it’s off the field for Johnny too that he blends in so well with whoever is in the wider squad.

Ireland have won five games in a row – how close are they to hitting a purple patch and making the most of the talent and potential you’ve got?

One thing that frustrated us at the start of the Six Nations was that we weren’t quite stringing together complete performances for full games. We started to hit our stride towards the end of the Six Nations. Over the Summer Series, we were able to do that as well. We spoke briefly at the start of this campaign about not waiting to pick back up to where we were before but trying to start with that momentum and carrying it on. That has been a real focus point for the players to ensure we’re not coming in to re-learn but coming in to pick up where we left off. That’s something which is quite exciting – it’s definitely challenging with new players in – but it’s up to the older player to bring those guys up to speed and make sure nothing is going to hold us back. We haven’t seen it yet but hopefully this weekend we’ll see a continuation of the form over the last five games.

In terms of the calibre of the opposition, is that reflective of the competition within the squad for selection over the next few weeks?

Throughout clubs around the world, you’re seeing lots of talent, not only in second row, but other positions causing headaches for club coaches and international coaches, which is great to see. The competition has been driven and translated across to the international camps. Throughout all of last week and this week, it’s been incredibly competitive but in a positive way in terms of being as constructive as possible, but at the same time trying to put your best foot forward. The competition just makes it more exciting, and I think that’s adding to my excitement for the game at the weekend.

Andy Farrell has talked about “daring to dream” for the World Cup. Is there a different sense in the camp between now and four years ago? Is there more talk about the World Cup at this stage?

It’s been touched on at the start of the campaign. We met about a month ago and discussed it briefly. This campaign, we have been focusing on three incredibly tough internationals. The usual Autumn programme would have someone in there who wouldn’t be as strong as the other teams. It will be massively challenging going three weeks back-to-back which you rarely have to do unless it’s a big Summer tour and there’s not a lot on the line after that, so using these three matches to prepare ourselves for the future is a pretty good way of benchmarking ourselves. The three teams we’re playing are top-quality teams who have a good bit of rugby behind them. It will be interesting to see where we start up. In comparison to the last time, honestly, I can’t really remember, but I remember that South Africa game, we felt we were in a decent place – that was leading into the 2018 run that we had.

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