Henson offers public apology

By Graeme Mair  

Henson offers public apology

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Gavin Henson has publicly apologised to his Wales team-mates for any offence caused by the contents of his recent autobiography.

Wales captain Gareth Thomas organised a players-only squad meeting with Henson to discuss any grievances over the contents of the book.

Henson's book, 'My Grand Slam Year', included harsh criticism of team-mates Colin Charvis and Martyn Williams as well as questioning the right of players born outside Wales to represent the country.

The issue is a thorny subject in Wales as their 2005 Grand Slam winning squad included southern hemisphere born trio Brent Cockbain, Hal Luscombe and Sonny Parker.

"The rest of the squad asked me to meet with them on Sunday and I was really happy to do so," Henson said.

"They wanted to make it clear to me that they were unhappy with some of the things that I said in the book and I have fully taken on board everything they said to me.

"I said in the meeting that I would like to apologise to anyone who was offended by anything that was written and I would like to go on record publicly saying that too.

"I didn't mean to offend anyone, it's the last thing I wanted to do, and I do understand why the boys were unhappy, and I apologise to them.

"We were a close and tight-knit group during our Six Nations campaign and I don't want to spoil that."

Henson is currently recuperating after groin surgery and missed last week's 41-3 thrashing against the All Blacks but is keen to return to the national fold as soon as possible.

"All I want now is to forget about it, the book's out there, there's nothing more I can do about that, I just want to draw a line under the whole thing and move on," Henson continued.

"I want to get back to playing rugby for the Ospreys and hopefully get back to playing well enough to be selected by Wales, re-join my international team-mates and move forward.

"I was a small part of a large group of players that did something very special last season and I want to be a part of that again."

Thomas, praised this week by Wales coach Mike Ruddock for his captaincy, feels that Henson's apology has brought an end to the saga.

"We were pleased to see Gavin and it's great that he's come out in public and accepted he has been wrong with some of the things he's said," said Thomas.

"We needed to discuss it face-to-face so there was no misunderstanding. As a squad of players we now feel we can move on and hopefully this will be the last public comment on the matter."