Before the Blues select Henson at 10...

Take a look back to this day...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/photo_galleries/4753046.stm

Ireland 31 - 5 Wales

Henson comes on as a 19th min replacement to S Jones and produces the worst performance from a Welshman in living memory.

Gav stopped being a great 10 when the Ospreys moved him to 12. He was exceptional there in the past, but I don't see how you can play regional rugby in a position that is now alien to you. Gav will have one eye on Celebrity Ice Jungle and I fear he will ruin what career Dan Parks still has while upsetting everyone at the Blues. When Gav leaves the Blues in June we may see him play 2 games at Edinburgh before a big money move to the Blue Bulls which ends before it starts after he headbutts a flight attendant while drunk.

They have weakness in depth at Number 10, the blues that is not the coalition. It's not going to be a problem for these has beens ( Sweeny too ) as all they have to do is pass it on to the talent or hoof it up in the air or more riskily aim for touch !! Then leave the place kicking to 1/2penny.

Can anything go wrong with so much talent in the backs. as it's the blues you can bet on it.

Dai Young isn't there something so they might win something in the next 10 years.

good banter, fair play. I must admit that as much as I want Cardiff to do badly I'd love Gav to be amazing just to hear the groans and moans coming from 'Ospreylia'. What'd be better than them not only realising that the Scarlets are overtaking them but Gav's totally nailed the 10 spot for Cardiff and Wales...

Scarlets overtaking them?

COME ON NOW.

9-9 means BOTH sides were rubbish.

Once the Scarlets get a decent pack in 5 years they might be competitive. If you were the Ospreys would you re-employ someone that a year previous tried to sue you?

60-17 last year

9-9 this year

17-60 next year


pretty obvious to anyone with both eyes open and a maths GCSE really.

The most humiliating thing I've seen was Neath 45 - 0 Llanelli before regions were formed.

The Scarlets wouldn't put 60 on Tonmawr.

and yet our feeder club Llandovery put 45 past them on Saturday and we drew 9-9 with the mighty Ospreylia.

Have said on other posts that 10 sems the logical place to give him a shot at.

Can't see him gettin in the centre with Roberts and Lualala or at XV with Halfpenny hopefully getting the nod there

Ok so he had a shocker at 10 against Ireland but has also had some good games there, admittedly not recently but then again he hasnt played anywhere recently.

The Blues have been quite clever with the signing. Parks' contract is up at the end of the season and Gav is on a pay per play deal for the same duration. Whoever plays better gets the contract.

Even if Henson doesnt make it at 10, having him as a centre will mean 3 quality (assumption) centres in a match day squad.

It's all down to his mindset at the moment, he needs to train harder than he has ever done through till the new year and take every bench opportunity he's lucky enough to get. Hopefully he's ignored from the 6N squad so he'll get some regular game time and prove he's worth a contract.

I can't see Cardiff renewing Parks' contract no matter what, if Gav doesn't prove a success then have Cardiff got any youngsters coming through?

Turkster wrote:I can't see Cardiff renewing Parks' contract no matter what, if Gav doesn't prove a success then have Cardiff got any youngsters coming through?

Nope, no younsters at 10 :/. Still, Parks must be on a fair salary and we could afford to bring in a better FH, especially with Tito, Molitika, Rush, Martyn, Deniol and Filise likely to go.

Personally I think we should bring in youth in all positions except 3 and 10 where we should bring in the best players we can afford with the combined salaries of the retirees. 3 and 10 are the most important positions on the field (long with 7) and it is embarrassing that they are where are worst players are.

Nick Robinson was a huge loss for Cardiff, they just haven't looked the same since he left, all that talent at 11-15 as well.

Out of interest where would the Blues fans like to see him given a shot at?

I've got to agree with the OP (though everyone can have a bad game) as Henson has been inconsitent, known to go missing in games and hasn't played regular rugby for 2 years, hasn't played FH for god knows how long 5 years?, is behind the pace with all the changes to the game since he's been missing and is quite brittle.

As such it's a lot of trust the Blues are putting in him to get the backline moving, especially as Halfpenny is not a proven regular goal kicker, he's a long range specialist which is a lot different.
Personally I'd start him off at FB away from trouble or too much pressure, Halfpenny to the wing, Henson has a monster boot (had?) good positional sense, good tackle and good defensively, and once he's proven he's up to speed and settled then bring him into the FH position as a sub/occasional start and see how he gets on.

Good point by Wales 606 about all the high earners the Blues will be loosing next year - if they can get a quality prop and some young good fowards coming through then they should really challenge at the top.

Erm to be fair Henson had not played for FOUR months prior to this game and did publicly state he wasn't ready for Wales, but he was stuck on the bench against his wishes.
Then sods law would have it that Wellies gets injured early on with Wales shredding Ireland to pieces.

I'm looking forward to seeing Henson at 10 for the Blues, hell he will be moire useful for Wales than either Dan Parks or Ceri Sweeney.

Priest,

From a National team POV I really hope they don't put Halfpenny back on the wing.

He more than proved he can cope at XV and IMO should now be our No1 choice there, moving him about will only create another issue by not picking a specialist in that position.

I agree that he played very well and more than proved he can play at XV, but I feel that he's done the same and done awesome on the wing as well, and as Shane is retiring you could argue that we need someone in both positions.

If we play him at 15 then I suppose we can play Stoddart on the wing, but you could do it the other way round. Also if Henson is 15 and does well, then you know Halfpenny will do very well on the Wing for the Blues and Wales, so problem solved.

I wonder what the atmosphere is like between Henson and Sweeney, those 2 apparently hate each others guts, and you can imagine how Sweeney will feel with Henson taking his spot!

I was thinking the same about Henson and Roberts as apparently they don't get on. Wonder how many other Blues players (particularly the Welsh ints) don't like Henson.

But to be fair someone should have taken Sweeney's place in the squad long before now, he's just not consistent enough for a good Pro 12 team.

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I was thinking the same about Henson and Roberts as apparently they don't get on. Wonder how many other Blues players (particularly the Welsh ints) don't like Henson.

But to be fair someone should have taken Sweeney's place in the squad long before now, he's just not consistent enough for a good Pro 12 team.

The only issue I have heard between Roberts and Henson was when Henson got asked by the WRU to model the Welsh kit and Roberts had a bit of a public moan that the WRU should of used someone currently in the Welsh squad to do it.
Though to be fair Henson simply had an interview and said the WRU asked him to do it as a favour and he wasn't paid for it, that;s more to do with someone in the WRU marketing department that anything Henson did wrong though.

I guess the argument was Henson wasnt currently in the Wales squad so shouldnt model the jersey. however if Gareth Edwards had done it I wonder if Roberts had used the same argument?!

AlynDavies wrote:I wonder what the atmosphere is like between Henson and Sweeney, those 2 apparently hate each others guts, and you can imagine how Sweeney will feel with Henson taking his spot!

Perhaps Sweeney will buck up his ideas then.

Henson to play 10 for the Blues since it would be difficult for him to be worse than the others.

Halfpenny was our regular goal kicker when Parks was away (and halfpenny was fit) last season, and Parks kicking hasnt been great anyway - Halfpenny will finally replace Blair at FB - speed, running intelligent lines, a monster boot and very accurate goal kicking. At last...