Henson 'suicidal' after Dublin horror show

Downtime

rugby.ie wrote:

Henson 'suicidal' after Dublin horror show

27/02/2006

Gavin Henson has taken full responsibility for Wales' 31-5 Six Nations Championship defeat to Ireland after a performance that left him depressed and questioning his future in the game.

Henson gave a remarkably frank assesment of his performance at Lansdowne Road and stated that, on current form, he does not deserve to be involved for Wales against Italy a week on Saturday.

Thrust into the action as a 20th-minute substitute for the injured Stephen Jones, Henson was forced to play the unfamiliar role of fly-half.

After a season wrecked by injury and suspension it was only Henson's fifth game since the Lions tour and he struggled to cope with the intensity of the game.

Defeat was not entirely his fault. The Wales forwards received little change from Ireland and could not provide him with the necessary platform.

But Henson cut a dejected figure at the team's Dublin hotel. He could not see past how dramatically the game changed when Jones, who had inspired Wales to take an early lead, limped off.

From 5-3 down, Ireland assumed complete control and went on to score a further 28 unanswered points including tries from David Wallace, Shane Horgan and Peter Stringer.

"I was down after the game, more so this morning. I feel pretty depressed, suicidal," said Henson.

"It is a powerful word but if you play sport and you have a bad game you do feel pretty low. You do question what you do it for.

"Confidence takes a knock and the last thing I want to do at the moment is play rugby. I feel like walking away from it.

"I'll be fine tomorrow – but at the moment I feel like I have let the country down.

"If I was a fan watching that game I'd be throwing things at the telly, saying: 'What the hell am I doing?'

"When Stephen was on we were playing really well. We were in the lead and if Stephen had stayed on we would probably have won the game.

"I let myself down and I let the players down. They might not say it, but I do take full responsibility. It's a bit harsh, but I am a bit down about it."

Henson's kicking from hand was poor and with Wales under pressure he struggled to pick the right attacking options.

He will not be a keen observer when it comes to analysing where it went wrong.

"I don't really want to watch the videotape – my confidence is low enough already," he said.

"Fly-half is a big role – Stephen does a good job of that and it showed how much we missed him when he went – and I didn't make the right plays or the right calls.

"I was always in two minds. It has been a while since I last played 10. There are loads of excuses – but I didn't perform.

"I made a lot of mistakes and at international level they get punished. It was a harsh learning curve.

"I feel disappointed for myself, my friends, team-mates, my family, my coaches."

Henson required groin surgery last autumn and after only three games back for the Ospreys he was suspended for 51 days for elbowing Leicester's Alex Moreno.

It was a gamble to include him for the Ireland game, but the extensive injury list left Welsh caretaker coach Scott Johnson with little option.

Henson will be released to play for the Ospreys against Cardiff on Friday night but admits he is still a long way from being the player who stole the headlines in last year's Grand Slam-winning team.

"I need game-time but it is really high profile all the time and I have to learn quickly," he said.

"It is nearly March and I have only played a handful of games since the beginning of the season.

"I don't deserve to be there (in the Wales squad to face Italy). I have no form, haven't played any games and am nowhere near international level.

"Unless things change on Friday night I don't deserve to be involved again.

"I think I got in on the reputation I built up last year.

"I am some way off that now but I will keep on playing. I will never turn down places in squads and I will keep putting my boots on and getting out there."

Llanelli are waiting to hear whether Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel will be available for Saturday's Powergen Cup semi-final against Bath.

Johnson has agreed to release eight of his international squad to the Scarlets for this weekend's last-four clash – but not Peel.

The region and the Wales coach remain in negotiations over the release of the Lions scrum-half for the Millennium Stadium clash, and they were due to meet in Cardiff tonight to discuss the Peel issue.

Johnson believes Peel is too valuable to Wales, as they prepare to play Italy, bearing in mind the loss of his other main scrum-half, Gareth Cooper, with a dislocated shoulder.

But the Scarlets insist it is the interests of Welsh rugby that they go into the semi-final with a full complement of players, especially as the other three semi-finalists – Bath, Wasps and Leicester – will have all their internationals available to them.

"We will be having eight of our international players available and we are still in negotiations regarding Dwayne Peel," confirmed Scarlets coach Nigel Davies.

"The Welsh camp obviously feel that scrum-half is an area that they are particularly weak in, what with the injury to Gareth Cooper.

"They see Dwayne as a key player, as do we. So those negotiations will be carrying on and we hope to meet Scott Johnson."

Poor Gavin, you really gotta feel for him :rolleyes:

Nukem

Downtime wrote:

Poor Gavin, you really gotta feel for him :rolleyes:

Keep feelin..........:v:

JuliusFranco

what an vain, self obsessed idiot

"i've let the country down" my arse.

and Ireland would still have won if Jones didn't get injured...



its not even a real country....

smashey

I would be suicidal too. If I had hair and a fake tan like his. The thought of having Charlotte Church would be enough to stop me topping myself.:D

daveirl

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JuliusFranco

daveirl wrote:

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I thought Ireland were coming into the game before Jones went off. Now Wales did start off well but (and this might sound EOSish) their try was kinda lucky... or more unluck from Trimbles point of view. Despite the first 15 minutes of Welsh pressure we were only 2 points down and looked like we were getting to grips with their quick off-loading fast phase game.

Now, don't get me wrong. The loss of Jones was devastating to Wales. Henson was appaling but my original comment referred to Henson's "Roy of the Rover" attitude.
It's like he thinks Wales depended on him and only him to steer Wales to victory.

Hydroquinone

Stephen Jones is a class player. I think it would have been a vastly different match if he'd have stayed on. They were dominatingbefore he went off, as daveirl said and some of those kicks Henson put in were tragic. My granny could have done better. And she's dead.

And can someone kindly tell me why that womble Henson was only putting on his shorts when he was coming on to the pitch? I've been watching rugby for years and we all know that they cameras always show the new man waiting on the sidelines to come on for a substitution. I also know that I've never seen such a raving narcissist as that at an international rugby match, stood there without his shorts. Dear God, what a tart.

casanova_kid

None of that here thanks.

Kojak

smashey wrote:

I would be suicidal too. If I had hair and a fake tan like his. The thought of having Charlotte Church would be enough to stop me topping myself.

Classic.

dinjo

No need to rise to it dinjo.

Don't want to go all soft like those soccer fans who can't take a slagging.

JuliusFranco

joking...i love Wales and it's a great country

base2

Ireland were going to win that game no matter who went on or off. Ireland didnt start badly, Wales just started flawlessly. Held possesion and kept attacking. We defended pretty well. One player isn't the difference when they were so comprehensively beaten. (and 31-5 was actually a flattering scoreline to Wales)

vorbis

well tbh, I think he's come out and accepted blame for the defeat. Fair play to him! Whats so vain about that? Some people seem to have Henson complexes.

As for the match, it would have been VASTLY different if Jones had stayed on. ffs a world class out half versus a player struggling with fitness who normally plays centre being thrown in at out half. Impossible to say though who would have won though had Jones stayed on.

Amz

Why, when Henson was coming on, did the BBC commentator say that some people believe that Henson's best position is playing at Out Half?

Clearly he wasn't considered to be playing totally out of position.

Trojan

Actually, from originally watching the game I thought immediately that Wales seemed to pick up a little when Henson came on and that maybe Jones injury might help them. Of course Henson went on to have a nightmare, but I don't think it's fair to say "we would have won". Fair enough, but you didn't, now feck off outta here with your attitude. I guess he's trying to be careful not to criticise his teammates at all, but it might have been more realistic to admit that Wales were just not at the races on Sunday (and Ireland were barely there either).

vorbis

outhalf is where they envisage him ending up eventually. Fact is though most of the time he's either at centre or full back. Not sure why people are getting upset at his "we would have won" statement. It's be a standard comment by any player in a similar situation. Seems people have more of an issue with his hair and fake tan than what he does on the pitch.

daveirl

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Peter B

vorbis wrote:

well tbh, I think he's come out and accepted blame for the defeat. Fair play to him! Whats so vain about that? Some people seem to have Henson complexes.

To be honest I must have a Henson complex. I don't care about the fake tan, shaved legs or whatever.

What annoys me about him is that

1. Very early in his international career he brings out an autobiography.
2. In this autoboigraphy he criticises other team players. Lions and Welsh team.
3. During the lions tour he publically admitted disbelief to the fact he was not picked for the first team. As a young player that is just plain and simple COCKY! It was obvious to us viewers that he was not good enough.
4. He needs to make comments like
   • "I was down after the game, more so this morning. I feel pretty depressed, suicidal"
   • "I feel disappointed for myself, my friends, team-mates, my family, my coaches"
   • "at the moment I feel like I have let the country down"
     Over the top comments like this are just typical comments from an attention seeking child. As JuliusFranco said "vain, self obsessed idiot"!
   
   
   

vorbis

I find it a bit odd to be defending Henson

1. Fair enough, its a bit early to bring out a book but its hardly that big a deal.
2. Some of the criticisms were justified and some weren't. Beats the see no evil hear no evil comments that players typically make. As long as he gets on with the players he plays with, it doesn't matter.
3. GREENWOOD was brought on in the first test. You think he is being cocky when he suggested that he should have been there instead of him! :rolleyes:
4. He was responsible for Wales losing the match. So technically he did let his country down! He also feels terrible about losing the match. How is this vain???

Chucky the tree

vorbis wrote:

[*]He was responsible for Wales losing the match. So technically he did let his country down! He also feels terrible about losing the match. How is this vain???[/LIST]

Wales lost a match in the 6 nations and he had a bad game - and he feels sucidial? Christ, i'd hate to see his reaction if something bad actually happened in his life.

Eoin

vorbis wrote:

I find it a bit odd to be defending Henson

1. Some of the criticisms were justified and some weren't. Beats the see no evil hear no evil comments that players typically make. As long as he gets on with the players he plays with, it doesn't matter.

I would say that he at best tolerated in the Welsh camp after it was publicly known that he had to defend his comments about his team mates. Maybe a day in Church may make him feel better...

I certainly thought that Wales had all the posession in the first 20 minutes, but some of the hits going in from Ireland were massive (apart from Jones showing O'Gara up more than once). Their first try was part luck / part brilliant. They say that Murphy had been sucked into the last ruck, so they put a great kick through as there was no full back. Trimble was unlucky, but that's the way it goes...

OT, but does anyone else see a somewhat anti-Irish / pro-Welsh slant in the planetrugby.com match reports?

Man of the match: Dwayne Peel
Moment of the match: Henson in his undies coming on the park
Villian of the match: Leamy for the stamp at the end.

It earned Leamy a yellow card, which suggests that there are people more intent on stamping out stamping than defending it in the O'Driscoll way.

[Jackass]

Ireland had been dominated for 10 minutes as wales threw their kitchen sink at us and we got off to our trademark "try and lose the game in the first 10 minutes" move that we do in pressure games, but were coming back into it before jones went off...our defence was rock solid and we punished every welsh mistake in that game (not all of which were Hensons fault! )

Our forwards dominated which isn't hensons fault, and neither is it that their set piece fell to pieces, plus henson has plenty of experience at 10.

Jones or no Jones we would have won that game, no doubt about it, but it wouldn't have been as one sided/convincing if jones was on the pitch.

He's not that good that he's the diference between a grand slam winning side and a tame bunch of lady boys.

daveirl

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WallysWorld

He got some amount of jeering every time he touched the ball, especially when people realised how bad a game he was having. Also Pat Kenny read out a text on his radio show "does Henson go into church after every match?!" and had to have it explained to him slowly and painfully that this could mean anything other than having a bit of a pray!

Eoin

WallysWorld wrote:

Also Pat Kenny read out a text on his radio show "does Henson go into church after every match?!" and had to have it explained to him slowly and painfully that this could mean anything other than having a bit of a pray!

That was fantastic - there's an MP3 of that doing the rounds. Or not, if that is illegal.

WallysWorld

I dont think it is, throw up a link here if you think its ok!;) I might just have a quick browse in the RTE site for it though

Eoin

WallysWorld wrote:

I dont think it is, throw up a link here if you think its ok!;) I might just have a quick browse in the RTE site for it though

@mods, please let me know if this link should be taken down - it's a clip of Pat Kenny and the whole Henson and Church thing:
http://www.SeapointRugby.com/attachments/InAndOutOfChurch.mp3

WallysWorld

Link broken I think?

Eoin

WallysWorld wrote:

Link broken I think?

Sorry - try again. Can't test it myself as work block anything with "mp3" in the URL...

WallysWorld

Works thanks! "youve missed em.... youve missed the ehh.... youve missed the pun on that....":D