Henry - Focusing on Bath and the professional dream

As the University of Bath prepare to begin their second half of the season, Zack Henry takes times to reflect on his career thus far.

In March of 2015, in his second year at Bath, he was representing the England Students side in their game against France hosted in Leeds.

Now, 10 months later, Henry is gearing up for what is likely to be another run at Twickenham with Bath, but the 21 year-old has ambitions beyond this March.

It has been a steady development for the Englishman. Little wonder, then, the versatile back is not looking back at what he has been able to achieve so far, but instead focusing on what he can become.

“I'm in my third year at Bath and have absolutely loved,” he says. It has been the perfect University for me and I have enjoyed balancing the rugby with a degree.

“Getting the England shirt on for the France match was a great experience and I had a brilliant time up in Leeds with some quality players.

“I'm hoping for similar experiences this year in the coming months. The dream has always been to be a full time professional following my brother Jake’s steps (who is now currently contracted at Darlington Mowden Park after a spell in the Championship with Plymouth Albion).

“I'm lucky enough to have had a few chats with clubs about this possibility but for now I am focusing on my rugby at University and finishing this dissertation!

Henry will leave Bath in the summer, but over the last three years, he is certainly in a better position than most to achieve his goal due to the level he has been able to play at.

Before he moved to North East Somerset, Henry had played for Hurstpierpoint College where they reached the latter stages of the Daily Mail Cup in 2013 and more recently, he was part of the Bath Rugby 7s squad which were involved in the Premiership 7s at Kingsholm last August.

“College rugby is something I thoroughly enjoyed and will never forget,” says Henry. “We had a great team of boys, brilliant coaches and we all really enjoyed our rugby and still look back on it and discuss it.

“With regard to the Premiership 7s, it was quality to be training up at Bath Rugby in a professional environment with some brilliant players.

“Although I didn't get to play at Kingsholm it was still a good experience at a high standard of rugby.”

These experiences have certainly helped Henry improve as a player, but now, his immediate thoughts seem to be on doing his upmost to help his University reach their first BUCS final since 2011/12.

Bath currently lie fourth in the BUCS Premier South A table having won five of their nine games.

More importantly though, they are nine points clear of the University of Bristol who are the only team that can leapfrog Bath, but Bristol must pick up two bonus point wins in their final two matches to do this.

Bath begin their second half of the season against the University of South Wales in two weeks’ time and Henry is confident his side will give it their all to reach Twickenham.

He adds: “The season so far has gone well and it shows as we are currently one point off third.

“There has been a great energy and feel around the club and we reckon this second half of the season can prove successful for us if we continue to train hard and build on the positive results just before the Christmas break.

“I'm looking forward to getting back on the pitch at the start of February for three big games, including varsity at Sandy Park against Exeter. We are fully expecting to get to the quarter finals and beyond this year.”