Henson ready for good hair day after award

Mar 24 2008 Simon Thomas, Western Mail

THE style magazines had better be on red alert because there’s a new Gavin Henson hairdo on the way.

Having laid a personal bogey to rest with a man-of-the-match display in this rout of Saracens, the Wales and Ospreys centre can now happily head off to the barbers.

As he received the champers to mark his try-topped efforts, he revealed that the award had been a long time coming.

“I’m just chuffed to win man of the match. It’s a massive thing for me because I haven’t won a man of the match award since 2005 and it had been playing on my mind,” he admitted.

“I haven’t cut my hair because of it. But I can cut it now, thank God, and start looking good again.”

So we must now bid farewell to the young Seve Ballesteros look and wait with baited breath to see what our Gav comes up with next.

Let’s just hope that cutting his locks doesn’t result in any Samson-like draining of his powers, because he is a rejuvenated figure at the moment and long may it continue.

On Saturday at the Millennium Stadium, he carried on where he had left off with Grand Slam-winning Wales, playing a pivotal role in the Ospreys cruising through to the final of the EDF Energy Cup.

It was his tackle on Saracens fly-half Glen Jackson just before the break that forced the spillage which allowed the ever-predatory Shane Williams to pounce for the try that established an 8-0 interval lead.

And then on 51 minutes, it was Henson’s turn to take centre- stage as he brushed his opposite number Andy Farrell aside with indecent ease on his way to the line for the score that took the Ospreys clear.

Given his turbulent career path, you are wary of tempting fate but, fingers crossed, he appears to be finally fulfilling the huge potential evident since he first burst on the scene as a teenager.

Aussie Alan Gaffney – the well-travelled coach of Saracens who saw that potential at first hand many moons ago – actually believes the best is yet to come from the 26-year-old.

“He’s always been a good player,” said Gaffney. “I first saw him play in a previous life when I was with Leinster in 2000. We played a friendly against Swansea up in the hills above the city somewhere and I saw this brash 18-year-old who definitely could play a bit.

“I suppose over the last eight years he’s had a few ups and downs, but he’s an excellent player with an enormous amount of ability.

“I still don’t think people have seen the best of him.”

Whether or not that’s the case, what we are certainly seeing is the best of Henson since the last Grand Slam of 2005 and he’s arguably a more potent force now, having added a real ball-carrying presence to his game.

This was clear by the way he blasted past Farrell for his try, fending the former rugby league star out of his path as if he was swatting a fly.

Henson has clearly relished being part of Warren Gatland’s Wales, where he has felt valued and thrived on the added responsibility of being defensive skipper, and has returned to the Ospreys full of confidence.

The same could be said for the rest of the region’s sizeable Grand Slam contingent, who have all resumed domestic duties with their self-belief brimming over.

This was apparent from the assured and hugely professional way they handled the semi- final.

Some teams may have panicked or started to force things when their dominance failed to produce points, with early “tries” from Williams and Jonathan Thomas being disallowed for a foot in touch and a forward pass respectively.

But that wasn’t going to be the case for an Ospreys team packed with Wales players used to winning. They remained totally unfazed and just kept on working at it in the unwavering belief that the points would come... and so it proved.

The end result was a 4-0 try count, while the way they denied Sarries a consolation score at the death with some impenetrable, Wales-style defence was just as impressive as their attacking efforts.

In truth, it was a hugely one-sided contest, as the ever-honest Gaffney readily acknowledged.

Asked if he could remember suffering a bigger hammering during his time at the club, he replied, “No, nowhere near it. We haven’t even remotely got close to it.

“They were just by far the better side. They are a particularly classy team with classy individual players.”

To be brutally honest, it was a game that resembled a clash between a club side and an international team, which in some ways is what it was.

Sarries didn’t have a single player who had featured in the Six Nations, while the Ospreys boasted no fewer than 13 members of the Welsh Grand Slam squad in their ranks.

On top of that, they also had the little matter of three All Blacks to call on in Marty Holah, Justin Marshall and Filo Tiatia, with Holah delivering a performance that was just as significant as Henson’s.

The Kiwi flanker ruled the roost at the breakdown, providing a constant stream of recycled or stolen ball, while his back- row colleague Tiatia made an instant impact as a sub, barging over for a try.

As for the Ospreys’ two other touchdowns, they came from the player of the Six Nations Williams, whose red-hot form shows no sign of going off the boil.

His first try was close to being a carbon copy of his poacher’s effort against France a week earlier, albeit at the other end of the stadium this time.

Pouncing on Jackson’s Henson-induced fumble, Williams hacked on twice and somehow managed to maintain control of the ball and touch down despite the attentions of the entire Saracens back three, with the score being awarded after the lengthiest of video analysis.

It was a tremendous effort and it’s questionable whether there’s a more lethal figure anywhere else in world rugby these days than the pocket rocket.

His second sealed the victory and was further proof that the rugby gods are smiling on him at the moment, with the ball bouncing up kindly once again after lock Ian Evans had put in the neatest of chips.

That try stemmed from yet another turnover at a ruck and Saracens have a huge amount of work to do on their breakdown skills if they are to have any chance of gaining revenge when they welcome the Ospreys to Vicarage Road for a Heineken Cup quarter-final in 13 days’ time.

As for Henson, Shane and co, they will look forward to that Euro rematch with understandable confidence having struck a huge psychological blow.

They will also believe they can settle a score with Leicester in a repeat of last season’s EDF final at Twickenham on April 12.

These are indeed heady and exciting times for Welsh rugby and our most star-laden region.