What the Ruck Volume X

By DC

Pop the Champagne corks, warm up the band - he is back.

Ok I know I have been away a little while but the celebrations are not for me, it's for the return of the Gav - the announcement that Gavin Henson will return to rugby next season. The last time I got this excited I was unwrapping both Michael Angelo and Donatello, the better of all the Ninja Turtles, that fine Christmas morning. The return of Gavin Henson is one of those key moments in modern Welsh Rugby, right up there with that try by Scott Gibbs, the Grandslam in 2005, that breath taking moment when the Welsh team stared down the Haka. The man is one of the most gifted players ever to have pulled on the red shirt, great teams need weapons in their armoury and Henson is a siege cannon and an armoured personnel carrier all rolled into one.

Ok right about now a lot of you are scoffing and laughing, I can hear you doubters already “What Gavin Henson, you mean the spiky haired, orange faced, silver boot wearing bloke?” I can hear you laughing as you read “another Welsh bloke banging on about Henson – fool!” Well you know what, I really do not care what other people think I never have done, I know a great player when I see one, I know the kind of player that can remould the very shape of the game – and you know what people Henson is one of those players. In the modern game certain players come along and change the shape and definition of the position they play – a player that sets the level, that raises the bar higher than most players can even reach. We all have seen these players and watched in awe as a single glimmer of opportunity evolves into a game changing spectacular. Players like Richie McCaw the man who took the number 7 shirt and turned it into a whole different mathematical formula, Jonny Wilkinson – the man who a World Cup was built on, Brian Habana who proved that wingers are a hell of a lot more than just straight line runners. Henson might not have changed the face of World rugby but his presence on the field changed the face of Welsh Rugby.

Is it a supernatural occurrence that in both 2005 and 2008 Wales won Grandslam with Henson in the side? Is it weird that the Welsh defensive line held strong and firm, tighter than 70s shorts, with Henson in the back line? Is it stranger than Lady Gaga’s stage outfits that Wales scored tries with Henson in the side? Ok I will make the pop quiz easier for you, the answer is simple, the answer is obvious, the answer is NO- the damn answer is NO!

In both 2005 and 2008 Wales ran attacking lines and played free flowing rugby, the kind of rugby that has been labelled the Welsh way for all the right reasons. How many times here players put into gaps, spilt second openings that were created from nowhere, teams were opened up with the same kind of ease it takes to pop a pringle? In both campaigns players like Lee Byrne and Tom Shanklin glowed like a supernova reaching critical mass – they announced themselves on the world stage with an explosion of attacking lines. The reason for this was simple, look back at all those tries, look back at all those breaks and you will see one set of hands creating the whole move like a master sculptor at work, Henson’s hands. He rode every tackle, gave his team mates space allowed them to play around him – that’s a playmaker, that’s a team player

The complete package Gavin Henson

ladies and gentlemen. A player who  gives his all and takes everything the opposition throw at him for one reason – to give his team mates space and time, that’s the mark of true class.

Henson may have the appearance of an over served tennis ball – you know all bright colours and frayed hair – he may shave his legs and wear boots that belong on roller disco enthusiasts – but there is a reason. They are not the garments of a clown, they are battle fatigues of a warrior – war paint designed to attract and frighten the advancing armies. Henson’s logic is simple, look at me, come get me – because the more of you that come and get me the better it is for the 14 guys in the same shirt as me. A simple effective tool, not only does he have the split second timing of a striking cobra, the vision for a gap that would make a diving hawk jealous – he has the plumage of a peacock – a peacock with a flick knife and a seriously bad attitude, in short a bloody dangerous peacock.

But great players are not just about what they offer going forward, they have to offer something in defence and boy does Gav bring options in that department. We all remember that hit against a youthful Mathew Tait in 2005, when Henson picked him up and threw him around like a bin man chucking around a black bag. But how many of us remember the way he ripped the ball off BOD and thumped it nine miles down field, in the key victory against Ireland at Croke in 2008? How many of us paid attention to the way the Welsh back line drifted and rushed with such ruthless efficiency? Henson was the linchpin of the Welsh back line, they all took their movement from the pivotal Gavin, like ninja choreography, organised and brutally effective. I have watched from up high and watched with jaw dropping awe at the way the Welsh back line moved under the guidance of Henson – he holds the line only releasing the waves of defence at the very last second – like holding back the very tides of a tsunami. 

In the last 12 months Wales have leaked tries one end and failed to score them at the other – the team has its star players however they have lacked penetration, lacked threat and more importantly lacked a brick wall defence. In the last year and a half the Welsh side has looked as if the defence is built on sand not the granite of 2005 and 2008 – why? Could this be down to the simple reason of missing two players – Jonathan Thomas and Gavin Henson? Thomas was the line out leader and the defensive chief among the pack – ask the simple question how has the line out performed since the omission of Thomas from the side? Ask yourself how has the back line performed since losing Henson to his year in self imposed exile? Henson is a key player and those people that concentrate on the fake tan and the hair style are just being sucked in like opposition defence.

Henson is the complete package – a boot that could be used by NASA to launch lunar probes, a God given talent to create spaces and opportunities for his team mates, he has the ability to lead by example and more importantly he has that X factor. The X factor I mean is not his sweet singing voice – it’s his arrogance, the greatest tool in his own personal armoury. The thing that gets under oppositions skin, that ability to fuel the other teams’ need to smash into him, crush and grind him down, he knows this and he welcomes it. Gavin is big enough to handle the hits, and the more hits he takes the better opportunities that get created – it’s an ever growing circle – the more they hit him the more space it creates, the more they want to hit him..... Well you get the pattern.

I am not standing on my pulpit and welcoming the second coming – Gav is far from the Messiah, he does have his faults, I am aware of that. But I wear red tinted glasses, I care about my home nation and I hate to see them in the inner turmoil they are in – they are wandering in the wasteland at the moment – they have seen the light but can’t work out which road to take to get to that light. When the storm clouds gather and trouble is on the horizon, you have to look for the silver lining; you have to look for that one brief sliver of light in the dark skies. The news of Henson’s return is that sliver of light – the clouds do have a silver (boot) lining.

Welcome back Gav, it’s been a long time coming but it’s damn good to have you back, come back with fire in your boots and lightning in your hands.

DC