Ian Henderson returns to the Scotland side for tonight's Rugby League Cup quarter-final in Leeds, bringing with him inside information as a former team-mate of several of the world champion New Zealanders.

The 30-year-old hooker will be up against his former flatmate as well as a few other former New Zealand Warriors clubmates at Headingley tonight and, having come through one of the most difficult nights of his career when sidelined for the decisive pool match against the USA last week, he cannot wait for the chance his international team-mates have earned him to get back into action.

"The knee's perfect now and I'm ready to go," he said. "Last week I just felt totally helpless, especially when Ben Fisher [brought into the starting 13 to replace him] broke down in the warm-up. I was hobbling around asking the medics whether I might be able to push it and play because it is horrible when you can't contribute in a situation like that."

He knows, then, that he owes a huge debt to those who stepped in, not least his older brother Andrew who had been brought onto the bench when he dropped out, then found himself starting on his first appearance of the tournament.

"The achievement over the course of the tournament has been remarkable, but the pressure that went with that game was huge. Then, having lost myself and Kane Linnett from the starting team to turn up and play the way they did from 8-0 down at half-time showed a lot of class, a lot of composure and you could see the tenacity and the desire," said the younger Henderson.

He knows there are lessons to be drawn from that experience. "I think there was a lot of emotion at the start of that game, knowing what was at stake, then with what happened to Ben when we all knew he is retiring after this tournament," he said. "We then had two tries disallowed and were held up over the line twice and that can have an effect, but half-time comes at a good time for certain teams and all our coach Steve McCormack did was to remind everyone to keep doing the same things that had got us to that point in the tournament.

"It had been really disruptive losing Ben and it was difficult for Andrew because it takes time to gel with the halves when we've been training with Ben all week, but they sorted it out and I am massively grateful because we have all put in so much hard work and effort. It just shows the incredible spirit that's been generated in this group."

That spirit is all the more remarkable because, in these days of highly-paid sports psychologists and expensive team building, it has been achieved with a group of players from mixed backgrounds who did not know one another a month ago and have had minimal support. "I'm really interested in that stuff and it does raise some interesting questions," said Henderson. "I've been at clubs that have spent a lot of money on that sort of area and have had nothing like this bond. Since the first couple of days I can honestly say this is the tightest team I've ever been involved with.

"The coaches deserve a huge amount of credit for creating the relaxed environment that has allowed that to happen and it's a huge part of the reason we've put ourselves in this position because we've got a bit of skill in our squad but probably not as much as the other teams in our group."

Henderson admits that he will be drawing on a little bit of past motivational work as he looks forward to the challenge.

"I remember at the New Zealand Warriors we had a visit from Keith Fennell, an SAS soldier, who talked a lot about how, no matter how good they are, it really is 17 men against 17 men," said Henderson. "He pointed out that there have been plenty of times in history when smaller numbers have beaten those with more so why shouldn't we beat their 17 men with our 17 men. We know it will be the hardest game of our careers, but we've got to go out and concentrate on the things we want to do and prevent them from showing what they can do."

Henderson is looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Simon Mannering, his former flatmate, as well as Manu Vatuvei, Shaun Johnson, Kevin Locke and Elijah Taylor, all clubmates during his three seasons and 65 matches in Auckland. In a way, knowing their abilities as well as he does, Henderson probably has more reason for trepidation than anyone in the Scotland side, but that is not really his way. "If you don't believe then no-one else will," he said. "I've got belief and I'm sure the team does as well," he said.

Outside the camp, only those with blind faith could possibly give Scotland a chance but it can, they say, move mountains, which is pretty much the requirement tonight.