Should Henson be released?

First topic message reminder :

Should the Blues release Gavin Henson or give him another chance at the region/club?

BTW North has a Welsh mum. I don't think any of the England team have ONE English parent or ever lived in England before they were 20!

The united states of England! A bit like the cherry picking confederate states of the NZRFU.

The largest playing base in world rugby has produced world class players such as Tuilagi, Botha, Corbiserero, Hape, Flutey, Barritt, Hartley, Catt, Stevens, etc... All hail the England poached XV.

RubyGuby wrote:I though most english were South African ? cricket/rugby ?

Rubyguby

Morgannwg wrote:The largest playing base in world rugby has produced world class players such as Tuilagi, Botha, Corbiserero, Hape, Flutey, Barritt, Hartley, Catt, Stevens, etc... All hail the England poached XV.

I forgot about Corbisiero and the other 37 non English players in the current England team.

Home grown = Grandslam
Foreign import = Chargedowns

3rdGrandslamCame wrote:Tuilagi is an awesome English player, but then I also like Botha (can't pronounce it though, too English for me). Barritt is also good, but I rate Hartley too. That Vainikolo was awesome where in Kent did he play junior rugby? Hape and Flutey were amazing they were always the top in their class at Millfield prep school.

Just looked up their international stats and all of them seem to be English, one was even a British and Irish Lion.

HERSH wrote:

3rdGrandslamCame wrote:Tuilagi is an awesome English player, but then I also like Botha (can't pronounce it though, too English for me). Barritt is also good, but I rate Hartley too. That Vainikolo was awesome where in Kent did he play junior rugby? Hape and Flutey were amazing they were always the top in their class at Millfield prep school.

Just looked up their international stats and all of them seem to be English, one was even a British and Irish Lion.

Don't believe everything Wikipedia tells you!

He might get a short term pay per play contract with an "act the maggot" release clause but no sensible club will want anything to do with him.

He was really really over rated anyway. He will no doubt be remembered as a waster.

3rdGrandslamCame wrote:Most Irish are Vikings

Cracker I'm supporting Denmark next season!

Morgannwg wrote:The largest playing base in world rugby has produced world class players such as Tuilagi, Botha, Corbiserero, Hape, Flutey, Barritt, Hartley, Catt, Stevens, etc... All hail the England poached XV.

We have the biggest population so this point is a little, well pointless!

The bigger the population, the more imports they get.

GREED.

who's nottins and cyril?

and I have already said I'm 1/8th Welsh, I've played alot of my rugby in Wales and was happy to do so, so why would I not like the Welsh?

Henson is the only Welsh Back player who I'd consider WC in the last 10 years, when he was in his prime.

Henson was never great. Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas were, so was S Williams for a few years and Lee Byrne for one year. The current crop has quite a few very talented players some of whom are quite smart, dedicated and professional, everything the likes of Henson is not.

3rdGrandslamCame wrote:

HERSH wrote:Going back to my previous statement.

'I've always rated Henson and until George North came along I'd say he was still the only world class Back (in the last 10 years) they had produced that would push for a place in the SH big three.'

I forgot North is English.

I must be the first person on 606 to prevent a HERSH comeback, not even a sniff of a pathetic comeback. Come on you can do better than this.

tbh Im wondering why you bothered given HERSH is being sensible and all your doing is ruining what was a good thread.

leinsterbaby wrote:Henson was never great. Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas were, so was S Williams for a few years and Lee Byrne for one year. The current crop has quite a few very talented players some of whom are quite smart, dedicated and professional, everything the likes of Henson is not.

Agree he wasnt great, could have been sadly. dont agree Alfie or Wellies were great although both served wales admirably on the pitch if not i the scrum V studio. Shane was a great of the game but I dont think one excellent season makes Byrne great. Of the new crop, North is going to be a world great, maybe cuthbert too, JD has potential so does halfpenny they are the guys who will be central for our attack for the next few years.

What does surprise me is the amount of cyber space Henson has taken up over the past 3 years considering the little rugby he has played.

Hersh,
while you are in a forgiving mood can you encourage your fellow Ba'athites to persuade Andy 'Bath Buffoon' Robinson back to his home town ? It would be an act of mercy. He would play Gavin H at lock too !

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Hersh,
while you are in a forgiving mood can you encourage your fellow Ba'athites to persuade Andy 'Bath Buffoon' Robinson back to his home town ? It would be an act of mercy. He would play Gavin H at lock too !

Nah!

You're alright, stick with him I think you'll do alright next year.

Courtesy of the Alternate Rugby Commentary:

Jedi's Top 10 Things Not To Do On A Plane When You're Trollied At 7am. Now please set your seats to the uptight position

#10. Do not throw gangsta rappers around the plane,
‎#9. Do not start loudly counting backwards from 10, 9, 8...
‎#8. Do not behave in a disorderly fashion, because that will give Brian Moore the opportunity to say another 1000 words.
#7. Do not offend the Hostess by throwing things at her, when chat up lines work just as well.
‎#6. Do not blame your state of wasyedness on glashgo..w.
‎#5. Do not fly hungover when being drunk is a much better feeling.
‎#4. Do not expect to be 100% functional at high altitude after abusing fake tan lotion for decades.
‎#3. Do not think you can disguise the smell of alcohol with...Blue Stratos
‎#2. Do not be the pilot.
‎#1. Do not behave like a drunkard in public, unless you want to play Rugby for England.

TycroesOsprey wrote:

leinsterbaby wrote:Henson was never great. Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas were, so was S Williams for a few years and Lee Byrne for one year. The current crop has quite a few very talented players some of whom are quite smart, dedicated and professional, everything the likes of Henson is not.

Agree he wasnt great, could have been sadly. dont agree Alfie or Wellies were great although both served wales admirably on the pitch if not i the scrum V studio. Shane was a great of the game but I dont think one excellent season makes Byrne great. Of the new crop, North is going to be a world great, maybe cuthbert too, JD has potential so does halfpenny they are the guys who will be central for our attack for the next few years.

I reckon 1/2p has been outstanding this year. His conditioning is superb. He is extremely committed and professional and really makes the most of his talents. Really great to see.

Thomas was a Lions captain and a fine players. Same with Jones. Whatever gaps they may have had in talent they certainly made up for it in character which IMO is equally important if not underrated.

I agree re Byrne. He had one stellar season, the rest was average enough.

Matt Williams reckons Henson at 17 was better than Drico but wasted it all. Drico reckons in training Henson was up there with the most talented he has ever seen. Sadly he didn't have the character to make the most of it on the pitch. Sadly he seems to have a fairly obvious booze problem.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/rugbynation/rugby-news/2012/04/03/wales-captain-sam-warburton-saddened-by-gavin-henson-sacking-91466-30679604/

Interesting article even if it is by the Cardiff Fail

Warbs seems to say that Henson was well liked by the rest of the squad, which is kindof born out by Lualua's tweet - which would rule out attitude problems as a reason for him being dropped and sacked.

Warbs again comes across very well and makes a good point about pro rugby players not being able to act like everyone else or their mates and get drunk and mess around as their under the microscope.

Most interesting bit though is that Blair is apparently off to Agen (if the Fail is to believed) - that would be a massive blow to the Blues.

Although Henson is a tool I'd love to know the real reason he was let go...

Don't really understand how anyone can justify Henson being sacked, players like Bastareuad and Cipriani have done worse things off the pitch before now without being sacked.

And then there's players like Attoub and Clark that get away with deliberatly gouging and breaking limbs without being sacked, surely that's much worse than throwing ice cubes on a plane?

Looks like it's come back to bite the Blues management in the behind with Roberts picking up an injury and Laulala leaving, should be an interesting start to next season with Hewitt and Evans tearing up the mid field...

There's obviously something else behind this as the Blues didn't even sack Andy Powell for his buggy ride, I just wish they'd come out and say what it is - it's probably for that reason that they weren't playing Henson much and picking Parks and Sweeney!!! instead of him at 10 and Evans and Hewitt in front of him at centre - and to play him on the wing???

Henson has been banned for six months from travelling with flybe(or something like that) airline. I think that's a good enough reason to sack him if not he would have to travel on his own to some away fixtures.

The guy has a booze problem and it's not being addressed by him. The blues threw him a lifeline and he blew it. Granted there are rumours that the Blues want to cut the wage bill but I can't imagine he was a big earner anyway given his antics.

He really needs a good manager to help and advise him because he just keeps making bad decisions.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:There's obviously something else behind this as the Blues didn't even sack Andy Powell for his buggy ride, I just wish they'd come out and say what it is - it's probably for that reason that they weren't playing Henson much and picking Parks and Sweeney!!! instead of him at 10 and Evans and Hewitt in front of him at centre - and to play him on the wing???

It does make you wonder if the coaching staff had any say in signing him in the first place. Evans and Hewitt are tidy enough players but neither is as good as a stone drunk Henson. Played him everywhere except where his rep was made. Very odd and against the best interests of the Blues organisation. Had he been given a chance and not been up to it fair enough, but to not even try it especially the way they have been playing is just incompetent

Dragonbreath it does seem like that - the only other thing I can think of is that after so long out of the game and injury problems his fitness/body wasn't up to playing consecutive games and the Blues could have tired of trying to get him up to scratch so were looking for an exit strategy.

But that's just a guess as I think there must be more to this becoz as you say he's looked much better than Hewitt and in particular Evans and Sweeney, and was never given a shot at 10 when Parks was floundering.

Maybe - and I have no evidence at all - Henson was on a tight leash already?
Perhaps he had a zero tolerance clause in his contract due to his previous record? Just speculation, but might explain his treatment.

Can't understand why you wouldn't sack him. Bad enough that the blues had just been hammered by Glasgow but to then go out and get hammered a week before potentially his biggest match for the Blues (qf v Leinster) only to pick up a 6 month ban from an airline on the flight back. As coach Gareth Baber correctly said any other organisation would have sacked too. I feel sorry for him not because he was sacked caused he deserved it but because he clearly has problem.

Henson wasnt playing because he was on a play for your pay deal with the Blues.

Thats literally the only reason I can see, from a playing perspective, if you're choosing Parks/Sweeney (both have been terrible) over him at 10, and then Hewitt/Evans (both have as little talent as Henson does sense) at 12 and Cjekai (sp) at 15 over him, then bringing him on to the wing as a sub (he was only nominated as a sub due to an injury) then i SERIOUSLY question you as a rugby coach.

In fact, in any other profession, an employer with such bad judge of employee, and such bad performances, would be sacked.

Hensons a clown, its just ironic that he wasnt welcome at that circus the blues call a management team.

to finish off my post, the blues are in a very bad place financially, you only have to see the lists of players they're releasing or that are moving on to understand that.

I think they were waiting for a reason to sack henson to get him off any potential wage-bill, he wasnt going to be re-signed for next season anyway, now they dont have to run the risk of paying him at all as he went against the blues "behaviour code" - as did Tom James & Sweeney (who did a lot more to someone than 'throw icecubes' at them, put it that way) but they both kept their places and no doubt got support behind the scenes.

terrible, TERRIBLE management. still, Hensons a clown.

Too much too soon for old Henson.

He believed the hype.

All of you welsh people out there who contributed to the hype. You are complicit. You share some of the blame.

I personally blame Matthew Tait for being such a nancy boy

Should Gavin be given a last chance saloon at the Tigers on a tiny salary?

Faletau of the valleys??

Comfort wrote:to finish off my post, the blues are in a very bad place financially, you only have to see the lists of players they're releasing or that are moving on to understand that.

I think they were waiting for a reason to sack henson to get him off any potential wage-bill, he wasnt going to be re-signed for next season anyway, now they dont have to run the risk of paying him at all as he went against the blues "behaviour code" - as did Tom James & Sweeney (who did a lot more to someone than 'throw icecubes' at them, put it that way) but they both kept their places and no doubt got support behind the scenes.

terrible, TERRIBLE management. still, Hensons a clown.

What did they do that was worse than Henson .................. not sure what they did, (but Henson drunk from one evening throughout to the following morning and then threw ice cubes at members of the public on a plane which could have incited a riot). I can imagine what I would have done to the guy if he threw a ice cube at my family member.

What did James and Sweeney that was worse than this?

The management did the right thing, gross misconduct and damaging an organisations name and reputation, get rid of the divisory person immediately

Comfort wrote:to finish off my post, the blues are in a very bad place financially, you only have to see the lists of players they're releasing or that are moving on to understand that.

terrible, TERRIBLE management. still, Hensons a clown.

If Henson is on a pay per play contract then the Blues don't need to fire him to save money. Just don't pick him unless you really need to. The only mistake the management made was to hire him in the first place.

Portnoy wrote:Should Gavin be given a last chance saloon at the Tigers on a tiny salary?

He should head to the Melbourne Rebels. This isn't going to happen obviously because he would more then likely miss his kids too much but he needs another fresh start.

I reckon a Currie Cup with the Sharks would be good, John Plumtree their coach used to coach Henson and has already offered to take him up in the past.

FHF, i'll not say anything myself, until the official verdict is released, other than a friend of mine was there at the time....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-17199835

thats what was reported though.

Im not defending Henson, he shouldnt be drinking on a plane at 7am etc as everyones said. But if we are using 'in any other profession' as an argument, my point is that the coaches/management team at the blues would have been gone long ago.

And Leinster, because its free publicity for Flybe (the airline that are a sponser and the blues use to travel), because Hensons a name and it takes the eye off their increasingly bad run of results, selction being a huge issue in these results. Theres so many reasons, and so much wrong going on at the blues its hard to explain my feelings without going through everything.

Can't condone what Henson did, but he was scapegoated imo, hired and fired for nothing but publicity, by an inept group of people who are supposed to be running the blues, not running them into the ground.

Agreed Comfort

gowales wrote:Agreed Comfort

and the universal condemnation of England rugby players off the field at the last RWC??

What of that people?

gowales wrote:I reckon a Currie Cup with the Sharks would be good, John Plumtree their coach used to coach Henson and has already offered to take him up in the past.

Don't know if he will be happy here in SA mate, celebs here don't get much attention.

Henson threw ice cubes, not dwarves.

Triangulation wrote:

gowales wrote:Agreed Comfort

and the universal condemnation of England rugby players off the field at the last RWC??

What of that people?

I wasn't part of any of that and in fact i was a large critic of the sensationalism that everybody seemed to jump on to.