THE HEARALD REVEALS

KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer February 07 2008
It was an essentially unrepentant Andy Henderson who yesterday reflected on the good fortune that means he is free to line up against Wales on Saturday.

Not that the Glasgow Warriors centre, who turned 28 on the day of his 50th cap, was being in any way brazen about the incident which saw him headbutt his opposite number, Damian Traille, during the defeat by France. He just seemed a bit bemused by the attention a loss of discipline that could hardly have been more out of character had attracted.

"I'm happy to be playing this weekend. The referee did what he did at the time and I'm disappointed that we conceded a penalty, but I thought that was that," said Henderson.

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Considering that there was still the prospect of him being cited, that seemed remarkably phlegmatic even by the mild-mannered Henderson's standards. But even when pressed on whether he felt there was a risk of such incidents damaging the game's image, he seemed relatively unconcerned.

"I wasn't sweating an awful lot. I was aware there was a bit of a hoo-haa in the newspapers and stuff, but I knew if I was going to hear something when I would have heard it by and when I was told nothing was happening, I was happy to look forward to this week's game," he said.

"I felt bad about giving away a penalty and letting the team down . . . but I thought more was made of it than there was."

Perhaps he has learned from being around characters like Nathan Hines, the bruising second-row forward whose turn it is to win his 50th cap this week. When put to the Perpignan captain that if people had been betting on which of them would be more likely to mark such an occasion in that way he would have been an unbackable favourite, Hines retorted with a laugh: "To be fair if, I did what Hendo did, I probably would have got banned. I'm not so lucky."

For all that there was that momentary loss of composure, however, it was to Henderson's credit that he recovered to be one of Scotland's better players on the day.

Similarly. his new midfield partner Nick De Luca had a largely forgettable debut which included a series of dropped passes, but showed late in the game why he was seen as an automatic choice for this team with a sparkling break.

"The good thing I was happy with was that I didn't then dwell on it and go into my shell," was the 24-year-old's assessment.

"I'm obviously going to be disappointed at dropping balls. I've not done it all season, so then to go on to the biggest stage of my life and do it, I was pretty hacked off. But I managed to pick it up and do a couple of good things.

"My team-mates helped me a lot, just with a tap on the back and telling me to let it go. If I'd let it get on top of me I would have got worse and worse, but luckily I didn't."

He also had a bit of homespun philosophy to draw upon. "My girlfriend keeps telling me mistakes are good because you can learn from them," De Luca said. "I don't necessarily agree with that because it was a tough experience."

Then again, he should perhaps trust her judgement because on that basis Scotland should be able to learn far more quickly ahead of the second round of matches than any other team in the championship.

This article was posted on 7-Feb-2008, 08:26 by Hugh Barrow.