All going to plan, the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France will represent a third World Cup for Iain Henderson.
Of the current 42-man training squad, only Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Cian Healy and captain Johnny Sexton can beat him for World Cup experience. All will be hoping that their best is saved for 2023.
With this being Henderson's third World Cup campaign, likewise it's his third World Cup training camp. Through the first four weeks, he believes this has been the best one yet.
Specifically, the nature of the training has pleased the players. The strength and conditioning work has to be done, but all the while the ball will be involved. Running for the sake of running is a relic of pre-seasons past.
"It's been great to be a part of, and it definitely feels more progressive than previous World Cups," Henderson told the RTÉ Rugby podcast at the launch of Ireland's new Canterbury Rugby World Cup jerseys.
The pre-season schedule is broken up into blocks. On 19 June the squad got down to work at the HPC in Dublin for two weeks of training, before heading their separate ways for a week.
They've been back on the pitch this week at the Sport Ireland campus, and will stay there for another week before splitting up once again for a down-week. Don't call it a 'rest-week' though.
"The week off is a week training on your own, it's not a 'week off'!" he laughs.
"We go back and split into smaller groups with our own GPS units and our own gym sessions. Most of the guys get away somewhere in small groups and will do that training together. It’s always easy to put yourself through the paces when someone is with you."
Henderson's previous World Cups in 2015 and 2019 ended in similar fashion with quarter-final disappointment, Joe Schmidt's sides losing to Argentina and New Zealand respectively in the last eight.
Ireland came into this summer as Six Nations Grand Slam champions and the number one side in the world, and aren't shying away from their aspirations of becoming world champions.
And having learned valuable lessons in his preparations in 2015 and 2019, Henderson believes there is a far greater focus on the rugby itself this time around.
"Prior to it starting there was a fair bit of input by players and Faz [Andy Farrell] had asked for that, and had asked the players what we wanted, what we wanted to fix from the last one, what we thought had worked well. It's a bit of a collaboration throughout all the staff to come up with a programme, and that’s been exciting to be a part of.
"What’s been different from the last World Cup? I feel like we’re concentrating a lot more on rugby.
"At the end of the day we’re all rugby players, and, yes, you need to be in good physical condition, but the bottom line is if you can’t play rugby well you’re not going to win a World Cup. That's something we wanted to take away from previous World Cups, to ensure it was a lot more rugby-orientated.
"That was taken on board, and the emphasis is definitely very much on rugby rather than conditioning, albeit we’re still doing a fair bit of conditioning within the rugby."
The 31-year-old recently signed an extension to his IRFU central contract, which will keep him at Ulster until the summer of 2025.
Henderson, whose current deal had been set to expire after the Rugby World Cup, had been linked with Toulouse, as well as a switch to Japan over recent months.
"I think almost everything my name had been linked with was incorrect. Genuinely," he said.
"I had offers from other places, I had a bit of interest. Did it get that far down the line with anything? No.
"I would say when 90 or 95% of international players come for contract, everyone has a bit of interest elsewhere. I’ve signed on and that speaks for itself."
The 72-cap lock hasn't played since suffering a fractured arm in Round 4 of the Six Nations in March, the latest setback in what has been a frustrating two seasons for him with injury.
Henderson missed last summer's Test series win against New Zealand due to a knee injury, while surgery on a long-running thumb issue delayed his season until late November in 2023.
However, the Ulster captain says he's learned how to cope with injury setbacks down the years.
"It starts out worst, and it gets easier after you get injured," he said.
"That might sound obvious, but the moment it happens is probably the darkest for me. After that, as soon as I leave the stadium and get home, after that the worst is done.
"You get home, usually see the kids, and they have no idea about rugby, they don’t understand when I get injured. Freddie, my son, asked me if I wanted a plaster for my arm. It’s fractured and he’s looking to give me a plaster!
"There’s a huge mental aspect of it that you learn through time.
"The frustrations it brings, the missed opportunities it brings, the frustrations come from both sides of things; wanting to be involved while your team-mates are going well is really tough, but also feeling that you would have wanted to be out there to try help them is tough as well. It is a bit of a mixture of emotions."
