Peter Jackson: Silent Henson has last chance to be big noise

Gavin Henson made a smart decision the other day, one which suggested that the penny might have dropped at long last. Posing for photographers in his London Welsh strip as the tanned symbol of the English Premiership‘s most surprising newcomers, the Prodigal Son buttoned the lip and kept schtum. In hindsight, he probably wished he had done so at various stops since hitting the road.
Five clubs in 21 months indicate how bumpy the trip has been since the Ospreys bowed to Henson’s demands for a move when they could have insisted upon his seeing out the remainder of his contract. Since then, he has flitted butterly-like from the English Premiership to the French Top 14 to the Pro 12 without staying long enough to make any positive impression.
Every employer, however temporary, has been ‘delighted’ to have signed him and   London Welsh were no different.  While they spoke of their ‘delight’ at acquiring Henson, the man himself sounded as though he was rehearsing for an audition at a Trappist monastery.
It was as if he remembered all those things he said upon arrival at all those clubs and thought it was better this time to say nothing. There had been enough broken promises, starting with his signing for Saracens in October 2010.
“I know I still have so much to give to rugby,” he said at the time. “I can’t wait to get back onto the field, play for Saracens and, hopefully, Wales.”
In next to no time, he couldn’t wait to get away, requesting a move after one starting appearance, at Sale in January of last year, and three more as a substitute, one lasting all of five minutes.
He resurfaced in Toulon, a move which amounted to three matches, a seven-day suspension following one Saturday night altercation with team-mates before it ended in tears.
Back home with the Cardiff Blues last October, Henson acknowledged it as a last chance to salvage his career and take the Blues out of their blues.   “I just want to do everything I can to make them happy and enjoy my rugby,” he said.
There was not much chance of either.   Before the season was over, the Blues had sacked him for alleged drunken behaviour on the team flight home from Glasgow in late March.  Three days later he was out on his ear, according to the club statement “dismissed with immediate effect”.
Now, thanks to the unlikely set of circumstances leading to London Welsh’s belated promotion to the Premiership, Henson is back where he began under Lyn Jones, his coach during the early days of the Ospreys.
Whenever Henson got into a scrape, Jones defended him without a word of criticism, at least not publicly which may be one reason why he, more than anyone, is capable of getting the best out of him.    Jones believes he will do so again next season and we can only hope that Henson’s incommunicado indicates that he intends letting his game do the talking.