Iain Henderson pencils in South Africa trip for comeback

Henderson missed Ireland’s historic series win over the All Blacks in New Zealand in the summer after picking up a knee injury in the run up to the first test before undergoing successful surgery.

He will miss the first four United Rugby Championship games, including the two home Irish derbies with Connacht and Leinster, the visit of the Ospreys to Kingspan Stadium and the away trip to the Scarlets.

Ulster travel to South Africa in mid-October for games against the Lions and Sharks, and Henderson has targeted those games.

“Rehab going good but I haven’t been given a specific comeback date,” he said. “I am only a week or two away from being back into full training but I know with the season and the 12 months that lie ahead they want to make sure that I am ready to go and play back-to-back consecutive games, to throw me in immediately wouldn’t be the best thing to do.

“I’ve got the Ulster physios and and medical department, and the guys in the IRFU’s department looking after me. I know they have my best interests in their hearts so going forward I have full faith in them.

“I think they want me to get a three-to-five-week pre-season after coming back to full fitness and ready to play. Those games will be in South Africa, so whether I travel and play one or train one or don’t play either and do pre-season out there with them is still all up in the air for me but I am on the right road anyway.”

Coming back from New Zealand early in the summer allowed the lock to go under the knife early to remedy sevral issues.

“I have had four of five hand operations that just needed fix ups for the last year or two,” said Henderson.

“I have had two fingers that have been done, my thumb has been done and had a bone graft, it was kind of stuff that was in the pipeline and it was another incentive to come back from New Zealand early.

“The surgeon, Michael Eames, who I have become quite friendly with over the last few years, was going off on holiday in the middle of July and he said ’if you can back we’ll get this done’.

“I was booked in at the very end of July but getting it done a month earlier means I’m a month further down the line, it’s all good now and basically fixed once and for all.

“I had a dodgy thumb going back three seasons ago, I had a diffusion on it then I got a ban and the diffusion fractured just post Six Nations when we were in South Africa playing the Bulls.

“On the back of the hand I had an issue the bones splaying and the fingers we’re staying together, and the other ones were constantly dislocating and other bits and pieces.”

Henderson is one of a generation of players who have never experienced winning silverware with the province, and he feels the side are ready to take that final step.

“It has been incredibly frustrating over the last number of years seeing us in 2016/17 we weren’t in that much contention to getting better and better each season,” he said.

“In some ways it is comforting to know that we are there or thereabout and that we are able to do it, but finally crossing the line is the next step. If I knew how to do it I probably would have been doing it for the last 10 years.

“Everyone is trying to get better but it is how much quicker can you get better because everyone is going to be improving the whole way through. Everyone is trying to do better so it is how quick can you accelerate you progress.”