BARELY AN HOUR before Cardiff Blues took the decision to terminate the contract of Gavin Henson, Brian O’Driscoll was asked about his one-time Lions team-mate.
In case you haven’t heard: Henson was suspended by his club following a breach of discipline on the flight retuning from their 31 -3 defeat to Glasgow Warriors.
This morning, the Welsh international issued a public apology for ‘inappropriate behaviour’ while drunk on the flight.
However, it would appear that the gesture was too little too late as the Blues’ management met this morning and took little time is deciding to sack the Grand Slam winner and reality TV star.
The sideshow is possibly the last thing the underachieving Welsh side would have wanted in the week leading up to a Heineken cup quarter-final in the Aviva Stadium.
However, Leinster centre, O’Driscoll was adamant that the antics of one high profile player would not derail the entire squad.
“I wouldn’t imagine it will make any difference this weekend for them.” He said while Henson’s status as a Cardiff player remained ‘suspended’.
Having spent 18 months away from the game, before a return with Saracens (which included a trip to Leinster at the RDS), it always appeared a gamble for Cardiff to sign such a lightning rod for media scrutiny.
O’Driscoll, who Henson accused of eye-gouging in his self-aggrandising book My Grand Slam Year, neither approved or criticised the initial move to sign the fame hungry utility-back, merely saying: “As to whether they should have taken him on, that was their decision.”
In flight
The story will hover over the build-up to Saturday’s game, particularly for the visitors, but the centre expects this weekend’s oppoents to refocus away from Henson’s orange glow and onto more important events on the pitch.
“I’m sure they’ll be able to shelve that completely, I wouldn’t imagine it will disrupt them in any capacity this week.”
“They have enough of a carrot at the weekend to be able to focus them for 80 minutes rather than worry about any incidents on airplanes.”
