By Jon Geddes; Image – Clay Cross

A GLOBETROTTING Scottish international has touched down in Sydney with an attacking arsenal in his baggage to give Northern Suburbs a massive boost in the countdown to the Shute Shield finals.

Fullback Josh Henderson played for the Scotland Sevens and the Glasgow Warriors before spending a year season in France, 18 months in Hong Kong and most recently turned out with San Diego in Major League Rugby before lobbing up at North Sydney Oval a month ago.

“I’m a big of a globetrotter, yeah,” Henderson told Rugby News. 

“I was coming away from MLR, wanted to play some more rugby, wanted to come and live in the beautiful city that is Sydney.” 

He also knows fellow Scottish representative George Thornton, the frontrower who has also made a big impact since joining Norths this season and has caught the eye of Super Rugby franchises.

“I heard nothing but good things about the culture of this club, and you know what? They have even exceeded those expectations,” Henderson said. “They are a great bunch of guys, the coaches are brilliant and I am learning every session. The boys made me feel welcome from the get-go.”     

 FLYING SCOTSMAN

THE 24-year-old showed what a potent attacking weapon he can be during his fourth game for Norths in their 36-25 win over Eastwood at North Sydney Oval last Saturday, a victory which sees them move into second spot on the ladder.

He set up a crucial try for replacement forward Charlie Jeavons-Fellows 24 minutes into the second half which gave Norths a 33-25 lead following after the conversion.

After receiving the ball over 60m out from the Woodies’ tryline, Henderson produced a clever sleight of hand and made a spectacular run slicing through the midfield. He then sent a perfectly-timed to Jeavons-Fellows who raced over under the posts for the five-pointer.

Despite the eye-catching effort, Henderson was not pleased with his game.          

“I had probably one of the worst first halves of rugby I have had, so after also getting a yellow (card) in the second I wanted to come out and help my teammates out,” Henderson he said. “After that 10-minute break I needed to come on and work extra hard.

“I still think I was a little bit below par this week, but personally that is something for me to work on and come back better next week.”

The arrival of a player with Henderson’s attacking spark at this time of the season is like receiving a couple of extra bonus points for Norths coach Zak Beer, especially in such a tight competition.

“Hendo is a really good acquisition,” Beer said. “I think if you look at the complete performance both halves together, he was very good.

“He’s a good calm head there and we’ve got depth now which is what we wanted at the start of the year. 

 “We like to play with the footy and we want the boys to showcase their skills. They kicked a lot of ball to us so we said ‘why not use it.’ “

 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

HENDERSON said Norths’ preparation for the Eastwood game was spot on and it paid dividends.

“We worked really hard during the week on our fitness and I think that really showed … in the last 20 we dug deep in a couple of really big defensive sets,” he said.

“And it is one thing we talked about – if you want to be the best team in this league you have to have a good defence as well as good attack.

“Like every other team in the Shute Shield we are looking to win the comp, to do that we’ve got to be relentless during the week, on and off the field.” 

Beer was pleased with his team’s display, which saw them pick up five very important competition points in what he described as a game of finals intensity.

“What we did every time we got an opportunity, we converted it into points which is what you’ve got to do in big games,” he said.

“It was a semi-finals type game, we played semi-finals footy which is what you are trying to do this time of year.”

Beer was very proud of his team’s steel towards the end of the game.

“We defended them for seven minutes for I don’t know how many phases and we didn’t leak a point,” he said. “Matty Gordon our defensive coach has been doing a really good job over the last couple of weeks.” 

Norths will be looking to consolidate their position as a competition frontrunner this Saturday when they take on Southern Districts at Forshaw Rugby Park.