No excuses from Henderson

Editor

Ireland lock Iain Henderson refused to use injuries as an excuse after they were knocked out of the World Cup by Argentina in Cardiff on Sunday.

Losing the talismanic Paul O'Connell, fly-half Jonathan Sexton and flanker Sean O'Brien saw the Irish come into the quarter-final low on star players.

But the Ulster second-row played down the trio's absence and still believes their replacements, him included, could do an adequate job on the field.

"You can use injuries as an excuse but before the tournament we knew they could happen and that is the bottom line. It is disappointing we couldn't get more out of the players who stepped into their position," he said after the 43-20 loss at the Millennium Stadium.

"Obviously they were massive losses in key positions but there's no reason why we should use that as an excuse."

He also refused to be drawn on whether their shorter turnaround after the France pool fixture played any factor in Sunday's eventual result.

"It was six-day turnaround but that shouldn't be a factor. We looked after ourselves, we knew we had this game so it shouldn't have come as a shock to us," he said before adding that having their World Cup campaign ended that this stage once again was a difficult pill to swallow.

"That's why most people are disappointed. We were here last time (in 2011) after topping the group and losing in the quarter-final. I'm sure we can learn from it and move to the Six Nations now," he concluded.