France focus now for Ulster as Henderson turns to next tie

A trip to tackle Toulouse for the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals is one to embrace following the pain of Saturday’s Dublin defeat.

“That was something we spoke about in the changing room afterwards, we have another shot at a knockout game and the guys love playing knockout rugby,” said Henderson. “Knockout rugby weeks are the most enjoyable weeks you can be involved in, I posed the question to the lads ‘how many more weeks of knockout rugby do you want to play in?’

“One, two or three, the guys worked real hard all last week going into the Leinster game and I have no doubt in my mind the guys will be raring to go and give Toulouse a proper thump.

“We chatted afterwards about where do we go from here and what we can do to move forward?

“The areas where we are maybe lacking is a slight bit of experience in winning knockout rugby games, having the composure and discipline to go through phases and potentially not give away a penalty or not crumble under pressure.

“Something that’s a bit of a realisation is Leinster are continually getting better, Leinster didn’t peak five years ago and just stayed there, they get better year on year...every year that we get better, they get better.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re always trying to close that gap and get better at a quicker rate than them.”

The final was Henderson’s first game in an Ulster shirt since facing Bath in January.

“I was always going to be tired, I was always going to be blowing a bit,” he said. “I felt where I wanted to add to the game was in the lineout, making sure our lineout went well and our lineout defence went well.

“It frustrated me that we gave away a penalty or two, I felt our discipline was something that let us down in that game.

“It is a learning that I will take away from that game that in knockout you have to win every small battle and that was a battle that we conceded in.”

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