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Dragons' decision means rugby might have seen the last of the maverick Gavin Henson
By Online Editors
Gavin Henson’s career appears to have reached a dead-end after Dragons revealed they will not be offering the Welsh maverick a contract extension.
The 37-year-old was one of the biggest gambles of the short-lived Bernard Jackman reign at the struggling PRO14 region.
Henson managed 15 appearances in his first season at the club, but injury and lack of form restricted him to only three games this term and he has now been told he will be surplus to requirement when their campaign finishes at the end of April.
The 2005 and 2008 Wales Grand Slam star was left out of the club’s 29-strong squad travelling to South Africa for league matches against Southern Kings and Cheetahs, with caretaker coach Ceri Jones admitting the end is nigh for a player who divided opinion throughout his career.
Asked by Welsh media if Henson, who was capped 33 times by Wales, was being offered another deal, Jones, who has taken over player retention and recruitment at Rodney Parade since Jackman’s December sacking, said “No”.
Jones added that he was uncertain if the 2005 Lions tourist wanted to continue playing once he leaves the Dragons and unless he features in the campaign-ending Judgement Day match versus Scarlets at the Principality, his last match will have been the mid-February defeat away to Edinburgh.
With the other financially-straitened Welsh regions unlikely to reach out to Henson, it would appear that the career of the former Ospreys, Saracens, Toulon, Cardiff, London Welsh, Bath and Bristol player is over unless he can somehow secure a deal beyond Wales.
Elliot Dee, Dragons’ Grand-Slam winning Wales hooker last month, told walesonline.co.uk: “Gavin has been a brilliant guy to have around the environment. Every player would say they have learned a lot from him.
“He spent an hour Monday morning training with (out-half) Arwel Robson giving him tips. That was brilliant. Everyone has got a massive respect for him. He’s been a great player, he sees things other players don’t.”
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I guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
Go to commentsWhatever let's see if this load of waffle is still valid in 2 years time. ABs will rise we have a lot of new talent coming through. The NPC was the highest standard for years. The game is changing to suit the fast pace we like to play. We get to play the Springboks more, including the franchises, which will make us better! Overall I am optimistic. I will add having watched the England game multiple times we made most of the play. England are an awesome physical team, but you can expect the All Blacks to get better and better at executing the chances. It could easily have been 5 tries to one instead of 3 to 1.
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