The sight of an onrushing Sonny Bill Williams is not necessarily a thrilling one for defenders but the Lions centre Robbie Henshaw cannot wait to bump into the multi-talented All Black at Eden Park. The Irishman was a big schoolboy fan of Williams and describes the prospect of making his Lions debut against his one-time hero as “pretty surreal”.
While the multi-talented 31-year-old Williams – who has boxed professionally as well as playing both codes of rugby – is by no means the sole threat in an attack-minded Blues backline, he will be Henshaw’s direct opponent and is set to provide the 23-year-old with a good indication of where he sits in the international midfield pecking order.
A good game would also propel Henshaw within touching distance of a Lions Test jersey but swapping shirts with Williams would be almost as exciting.
“I was a big fan of his when I was a kid, whether it was performing in league or for the All Blacks,” says the physical Leinster player. “To be coming up against him is pretty surreal. It’s going to be tricky but I’m looking forward to playing against him and having a go.”
Henshaw is also vowing he and his team-mates will take the game to the provincial sides they encounter, rather than allow their hosts to take the initiative. “We need to come with an attack mentality here,” says Henshaw, who scored Ireland’s final try against the All Blacks in last autumn’s win in Chicago. “We can’t sit off and let these boys play because they can tear teams up in the blink of an eye. Our mentality is to go after these teams, show them we’re coming here to play and go after them in defence as well.”
Warren Gatland is also inviting his backs to take calculated risks – “If it’s on to throw a 60/40 offload he’s encouraging us to do that,” says Henshaw – and his players have stopped using jetlag as an excuse for sluggishness. “We have settled in nicely, we are feeling really fresh and are pretty much raring to go,” confirmed Henshaw. “That [jetlag] is out the window now.”
As someone who studied Gaelic in his youth, Henshaw has already risen to the challenge of speaking in the language to Maori elders at the squad’s official welcome in Waitangi last Sunday. After receiving some tips from his sister Ali, a primary school teacher, he fulfilled his ceremonial duties having received the nod ahead of his team-mate Tadhg Furlong. “As I played in the west of Ireland with Connacht and it’s an Irish-speaking area, I was directly in line for it,” he says. “I was asking Tadhg a couple of days before if he wanted to go for it but he had to prepare for the opening game – so I had to take it on.”
With Ben Te’o having made a promising start to the tour, the onus is now on Henshaw and his defensive partner Jared Payne, who used to play for the Blues, to keep Williams’s offloading game quiet: “It’s obviously the top, top level of the sport for us and to be in this position is unbelievable. I just want to go out there and do myself proud, do my family proud and do the best I can.”
It has also emerged the Lions will face a series of hakas before all their provincial games, in addition to the Tests and the fixture against the Maori. For the first time in the Blues’ 21-year history, the team will perform a pre-match haka entitled He Toa Takitini which translates as “(The Strength of Many)”. “All credit to the Lions for embracing the opportunity to face a haka before kick-off,” said Nigel Cass, New Zealand Rugby’s general manager.
