Peter Jackson: How Wales are missing Henson’s abiding class

As Wales prepare to salvage what’s left of the Six Nations, their best midfield player will be otherwise engaged in a similar operation. Gavin Henson steps into the English Premiership’s relegation scrap at Sixways this afternoon as the player most likely to keep Bristol up and send Worcester down. His absence from the Test stage has never been more depressingly apparent than in recent weeks.
Still a match-winner at 35, as Bath discovered to their cost last weekend, Henson is a symbol of what Welsh rugby has lost, a solitary beacon still able to shed a little ghostly light above the wilderness. He had more skill, more nous and natural ability than any other midfield back capped by Wales in the 14 years since his debut.
That is not to deny that Henson’s Test future is behind him, but the Welsh management has been afflicted by such an alarming paucity of midfield options that they can only sigh at what might have been. What Wales would give to have Henson at his peak lining up against Ireland in Cardiff on Friday night is nobody’s business.
At Murrayfield last week, with time fast ebbing away and Wales unraveling at roughly the same rate of knots, their last throw of the dice provided a damning indictment of how they had run out of options. All they managed by way of crisis-management was to send Jamie Roberts on for the final ten minutes.
It was nothing more than a gesture, one that made not a jot of difference. Having come to the belated conclusion that Roberts, the supreme exponent of ‘Warrenball’ no longer fitted the tactical bill, then why park him on the bench?
Irish players who experienced Henson’s winning touch, including all-time greats like Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell, will be mighty glad to know he will be safely out of harm’s way. Twelve years ago he played a leading role in securing the first of three Welsh Grand Slams, denying Ireland the title as a result.
Henson had been elevated further up the chain of command when Wales won a second Slam three years later. Over the course of winning all five matches they conceded a miserly two tries – one to England stand-off Toby Flood, the other to Italy’s tighthead, Martin Castrogiovanni.
And who was responsible for that in his new role of defence captain?   Henson, a centre equipped to shred opponents with his vision or stop them in their tracks. Those who remember him fromthen could be forgiven for wondering what happened and where the time has gone.
Henson and Wales have been divorced, in a manner of speaking, since 2011. Nobody with more talent can have won fewer caps, his total of 33 stark evidence of how many he lost due to his pursuit of celebrity and a savage toll of injury.
They took a severe reckoning but not as severe as the blows suffered by Jonny Wilkinson. He fought back from greater punishment, a point which Henson readily conceded when I put it to him at the launch of his short stay with the ill-fated London Welsh.
The new generation of Welsh centres are hard to find. The Dragons‘ pair, Tyler Morgan and Jack Dixon, two of the brightest and best when identified a few years ago, have yet to start fulfilling their potential.
Ashley Beck, the Ospreys‘ outside centre fit again after being afflicted by more than his share of long-term injury, must wonder what more he has to do. Like Old Mother Hubbard’s, the cupboard remains disturbingly bare.