Club axe boozy Henson ... now he’s nowhere to go
GAVIN Henson’s turbulent, controversial career appeared to be in ruins last night after he was sacked by Cardiff Blues following his drunken antics on a flight from Glasgow on Saturday.
The 30-year-old centre had hoped an emphatic apology for this latest alcohol-related episode would persuade the Blues to give him the benefit of the doubt. But after an emergency management meeting yesterday, the region confirmed that Henson had been ‘dismissed with immediate effect’.
Little more than six months after the move to Cardiff which he hoped would reignite his fading Test career, the double Grand Slam-winner and one-time Lion is now facing the grave risk of being out of options in professional rugby. After a prolonged sabbatical, he had a brief stint at Saracens before a similarly fleeting spell at Toulon unravelled when he was embroiled in a drunken clash with team-mates at a nightclub.
There have been several such incidents over the years, culminating in the earlymorning flight on Saturday which allegedly saw Henson, who had been out the previous night, continuing to drink on the plane and apparently throwing ice cubes around the cabin, infuriating other passengers.
For the Blues, for whom the high-profile player had made only six starts, this was a controversy they were unwilling to overlook in the build- up to Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against champions Leinster in Dublin.
Chief executive Richard Holland said: ‘Gavin admitted that his behaviour was totally unacceptable and the immediate termination of his contract sends out a clear message that behaviour like that will not be tolerated at the Blues. We have a duty to our supporters and sponsors to protect the good name of Cardiff Blues and those associated with our brand. However, we would like to thank him for his service and wish him the best of luck with his future career.’
Henson will require some luck to ensure there is a future career at all. After 33 Test appearances for Wales and one for the Lions, there is surely no way back in international rugby. His last appearance for his country was eight months ago, when a stirring 30-minute cameo suggested the force was with him again, before injury ended his slim hopes of gatecrashing the World Cup squad. While coach Warren Gatland is a known admirer of Henson, Wales are not short of midfield options.
As a side- effect of this latest example of his rowdy, anti- social streak, Henson has also been banned from all Flybe flights for six months.
When the Blues travel to Dublin on Saturday, they are likely to be confronted by Leinster in a packed Aviva Stadium. As of yesterday, the Irish province had sold 48,000 tickets for the encounter, only 2,000 short of capacity, while their domestic rivals Munster and Ulster will lock horns in front of a 26,000 full house at Thomond Park in Limerick. Edinburgh’s showdown with Toulouse at Murrayfield will be the biggest club game in Scottish rugby history, with more than 30,000 tickets sold. But the sole English representatives, Saracens, are likely to attract the smallest crowd of the last- eight weekend.
Only eight days after drawing a world-record 83,761 to Wembley for their Aviva Premiership game against Harlequins, the league champions are expected to play French visitors Clermont Auvergne in front of between 10,000 and 15,000 fans at Vicarage Road.
chris.foy@dailymail.co.uk