Gavin Henson feels Wales' fourth-placed finish in this year's Six Nations was just what they deserved.
Centre hopes to learn from disappointing finish
Wales star Gavin Henson feels their fourth-placed finish in this year's RBS Six Nations was just what they deserved.
Saturday's nail-biting 17-15 defeat by new Grand Slam champions Ireland at the Millennium Stadium prevented Wales defending their Six Nations crown.
And with England and France recording comfortable final weekend wins, the Welsh slip to fourth on points difference.
That made it the seventh time in 10 seasons that Wales have finished outside the tournament's top three and despite going close to defending their title, Henson admits they never quite delivered in a disappointing campaign.
"The league table doesn't lie," he said. "We have finished fourth and that is where we are at the moment.
"I don't think our game is quite right, but we were close. We could have had it.
"Fourth is exactly where we are. I don't think our game is right at all. We will learn a lot from this campaign and we will definitely be a better a team for it."
Gripping
Two tries in four second-half minutes by Ireland's Brian O'Driscoll and Tommy Bowe wiped out a 6-0 half-time deficit before Stephen Jones and Ronan O'Gara exchanged drop-goals in a gripping climax.
Jones' final penalty strike then drifted narrowly wide as Henson saw his record of winning every Six Nations Test he has started come to an end after 11 straight victories.
"It's a little bit concerning we didn't score a try," he said. "We created a couple of chances, but not cutting-edge chances.
"Maybe we need to stop worrying about the opposition as much as we do and concentrate on ourselves a bit more.
"I think teams have been a little bit negative when they've played us, and tried to stop us from playing, so we have got to counteract that from now on.
Worthy winners
"We are a bit down. It was a hell of a game, and it just didn't go our way. Fair play to Ireland, they probably deserved it.
"We conceded a lot of points at the start of the second half.
"But we did well to come back and get back into the lead. It was Ireland's day though, and we have to get on with it.
"Stephen wanted to take that last kick straight away - it was definitely Steve's kick.
"I took one a bit earlier and didn't catch it at all, and I had a bit of a tight back as well, so I didn't fancy that last one, to be honest."
