Henson Depressed By Comeback

Gavin Henson, whose strutting self-confidence was a feature of Wales’s grand slam success last year, admitted yesterday that he felt like walking away from the game after his international comeback against Ireland in Dublin last Sunday ended in personal ignominy and an abject defeat for his team.

Henson, who had been chosen on the bench even though he had played only four matches all season, and just one in the previous 10 weeks after serving a suspension for elbowing, found himself on the field after just 20 minutes when he replaced the injured outside-half Stephen Jones, a position he had not appeared in for Wales for more than four years.

"I was down after the game and felt pretty depressed the following morning, suicidal even," said the 24-year-old. "Suicidal is a powerful word, but if you play sport and you have a bad game, you do get pretty low and you 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 will be fine tomorrow, but at the moment I feel like I have let the country down. When Stephen was on we were playing really well; we were in the lead and if he had remained on the field, we would probably have won the game. I let myself down and I let the players down."

Henson was greeted by wolf whistles as he stood on the touchline waiting to replace Jones, whose injured knee is not expected to keep him out of next week ‘s match against Italy, and the crescendo of noise grew even louder with his every mistake. He is not the first Wales outside-half to find his reputation scattered all over Lansdowne Road: Barry John was pilloried for his performance in 1970 when the Irish romped to a 14-0 whitewash, but in little more than a year he was inspiring the Lions to their first Test series victory in New Zealand and being hailed as the greatest fly-half ever.

A bad display never compromised John’s belief in his own ability, and the question for Henson is whether his resolve is as steely. "I have loads of excuses for Sunday, not least that it was a while since I had played at outside-half, but the simple fact is that I did not perform. I made a number of mistakes and was punished for them. I did not make the right calls and I do not deserve to be in the team to face Italy. I need game-time with the Ospreys."