After enduring a disappointing end to last season, Robbie Henshaw feels he's getting the benefit of some unwanted time off.
The 32-year-old Leinster centre missed their URC run-in with a knee injury and didn’t make Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions squad despite having started all three Tests in South Africa in 2021.
He returned to club action at the start of the season but picked up a minor groin strain in mid-October.
The Athlone man travelled to Chicago with Ireland but sat out the New Zealand game before putting in back-to-back 80-minute showings against Japan and Australia, capping off the 46-19 win over the Wallabies with his first international try since the 2023 Six Nations victory over England.
"It was tough, I'd have loved to have been there," said Henshaw of missing out on the Lions tour.
"Especially having been there in South Africa and not experiencing the full Lions experience with Covid. It gave me a good reset in terms of where I want to go with my game, how I want to move forward this season and beyond.
"Focusing on myself. I enjoyed pre-season in Leinster over the summer and the body’s in good shape. I was happy to play in the last two 80s, which is great for me.
"Definitely, [there’s more to come] yeah, there's more to give for me playing-wise and helping guys as well.
"I've been challenged in different ways like that, how can we bring it forward together? Not only on the pitch, but off it."
Ireland bounced back from the defeat to the All Blacks with a 41-10 win over Japan but management and players weren’t happy with how the game played out.
The six-try rout of Australia, with a record winning margin, was more like the 2023 and 2024 Six Nations champions.
"We were good in terms of our territory," Henshaw said. "Our lineout was brilliant. We stole some good lineouts off them as well, which took away momentum from them.
"Last week we were a bit frantic in attack.
"It was a bit more of a rounded performance, even though it was tricky conditions, it was great to see us having the balls to play wide and take the space when it was there.
"Everyone showed up and it was a good performance. We know we want to put out the best performance we can and sometimes it's not perfect.
"I think Sam [Prendergast] played really well, Jamo [Jamison Gibson-Park] played really well.
"And our pack got us the ball and got us good clean ball.
"Just a combination of everyone executing their job well, leads to good things for us and helps us be calm in situations."
FT: Ireland 46-19 Australia
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) November 15, 2025
Robbie Henshaw puts the icing on the cake as Ireland finish with a flourish #IREvAUS
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On his own try, which came in the last play of the game, he said: "I haven't scored in a while, so yeah, it was nice.
"I thought I was going to get caught in the corner, but thankfully, I wasn't. I was giving [Gibson-Park] a hand signal, yeah. There was a bit of space.
"So thanks to him for being a heads-up rugby player and he's able to do class things off the cuff."
Ireland, who dropped down to fourth in the world rankings behind England, face world champions South Africa on Saturday. Andy Farrell's side have won four of their last five meetings.
"It's massive," said Henshaw, who will win his 85th cap if he features against the Springboks.
"They're the talk of world rugby at the moment in terms of the strength in depth they have, the individual talent and I suppose they're grinding out results.
"Teams looks like they have them and then they find a way to get back.
"It's a proper test for us to see where we're at and yeah, we have gone toe-to-toe with them, and I suppose from summer last year it was one win each in that series, so they'll be looking at that as well.
"It's massively exciting because they're such a proud nation as well and when we play against them here in Dublin, it's always a thriller."
Watch Ireland v South Africa in the Quilter Nations Series on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
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