Posted by Since the departure of Hadleigh Parkes and Jonathan Davies from the international scene the discussion around Cymru’s centre partnership has been raging on with a sense that no favoured duo has been found.
Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Johnny Williams, Max Llewellyn, Keiran Williams, George North, Joe Roberts and Mason Grady have all had a go, with differing levels of success, but the point we’ve reached now is to see Grady wearing 12, where he’s not particularly comfortable, and Watkin wearing 13, where he’s not particularly comfortable at test level.
Over the last few years there have been talents at D20 level; I’ve written about Joe Hawkins and Tiaan Thomas-Wheeler previously as members of the midfield who have stood out at the top of the national age grade system. However, neither have been able to make the step up to the senior test level as things stand due to circumstances both within and out of their control.
In Louie Hennessey though there is a lot of hope that Cymru have found a potential star at centre, as the Bath man continues to be one of the stand out players at this summer’s World Rugby U20 Championship after taking major steps in his development across 2023/24.
Hennessey has been on the radar for a while. A promising talent coming out of the Cardiff Schools set up while at Llanishen High he was one of the first players contracted to Cardiff Rugby while attending Hartpury College, where he captained a very successful 1st XV.
Tempted to stay across the Severn Bridge by an extremely attractive offer from Bath that the Blue & Blacks could not compete with, the 20-year-old has enjoyed first team minutes in the Premiership Rugby Cup and Gallagher Premiership itself, scoring a great try away at Leicester during the festive period.
Combining that with Bath University game time in BUCS Super Rugby has given him a great grounding to step up with Cymru D20, building on a breakout 2023 campaign to be one of the best players in both the U20 Six Nations and the current World Championship in South Africa.
There may well be discussion in time to come over whether Hennessey’s best position is at 12 or 13, but the beauty of his skillset at the moment is that it suits both.
Looking at the examples of his ball carrying above he is comfortable coming short off 9 or 10, picking inside lines such as the beauty that took him over the try line against New Zealand U20, or stretching his legs in the outside channel to combine his pace and power.
Then defensively he can spot blitz out of the line and make a physical double tackle, or step in and get over the ball, bringing that mix of centre and back row skills that are required for the modern midfielder.
What separates Hennessey from others though is a seemingly natural feel for the attacking side of the game; his vision, awareness of space, ability to manipulate defences and the variation of his distribution that allows his team-mates to benefit from his footwork and handling skills. The amount of line breaks he assists is truly remarkable.
What Hennessey does so well is utilise his skillset in a controlled manner. There is a tendency for some players who have the ability to one-hand offload and side step in the way that he does to constantly play in a Barbarians-esque manner. Effectively join the rugby Harlem Globetrotters in whipping out as many skills as possible without any real intent.
Instead the young Welshman is very deliberate about bringing out the x factor. Look at both offloads and they are not off-the-cuff moments, but planned in order to maximise the amount of opposition defenders tied up in attempting to tackle him, and give as much space as possible to his team-mates outside him.
Similarly the final two clips showing the inside and outside passes are timed perfectly to create maximum attacking impact; going inside before going wide to turn the defenders’ shoulders in, and then holding on to possession and using his footwork to draw in two defenders before releasing his winger, rather than just shovel the ball out wide as soon as possible as others might do in both scenarios.
Then when the opportunity is on out wide, he is not shy in throwing a long miss-pass and exploiting space in the outer channels. The ball over the top for Aidan Boshoff in the final clip is a particularly brilliant pass, delivered so subtly so as not to alert the defence to any interception opportunity.
Hennessey is a serious talent, yet makes it look so effortless when it is undoubtedly on the back of many years hard work. The next step post Cymru D20, as he becomes too old for the age grade following this tournament, is the toughest. With the likes of Ollie Lawrence, Max Ojomoh and Cam Redpath at Bath the competition is fierce.
However, the Cardiff boy undoubtedly has all the tools to make it to the top level, perhaps even more so than the likes of Hawkins and Thomas-Wheeler who came before him.
Fingers crossed he does, because Cymru desperately need a conveyor belt of good news stories in midfield.
Cardiff Rugby Life 