Henson comes down hard on himself for Wales defeat Six Nations News

Six Nations News: Gavin Henson has taken full responsibility for Wales' 31-5 Six Nations Championship defeat to Ireland after…

Six Nations News: Gavin Henson has taken full responsibility for Wales' 31-5 Six Nations Championship defeat to Ireland after a performance which left him depressed and questioning his future in the game.

Henson gave a remarkably frank assessment of his performance at Lansdowne Road and stated that, on current form, he does not deserve to be involved for Wales against Italy a week on Saturday.

Thrust into the action as a 20th-minute substitute for the injured Stephen Jones, Henson was forced to play the unfamiliar role of outhalf. After a season wrecked by injury and suspension it was only Henson's fifth game since the Lions tour and he struggled to cope with the intensity of the game.

But Henson cut a dejected figure at the team's Dublin hotel. He could not see past how dramatically the game changed when Jones, who had inspired Wales to take an early lead, limped off. From 5-3 down, Ireland assumed complete control and went on to score a further 28 unanswered points.

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"I was down after the game, more so this morning. I feel pretty depressed, suicidal," said Henson.

"It is a powerful word but if you play sport and you have a bad game you do feel pretty low. You do question what you do it for.

"Confidence takes a knock and the last thing I want to do at the moment is play rugby. I feel like walking away from it.

"I'll be fine tomorrow - but at the moment I feel like I have let the country down. If I was a fan watching that game I'd be throwing things at the telly, saying 'what the hell am I doing?'

"When Stephen was on we were playing really well. We were in the lead and if Stephen had stayed on we would probably have won the game.

"I let myself down and I let the players down. They might not say it, but I do take full responsibility. It's a bit harsh, but I am a bit down about it."

"Fly-half is a big role - Stephen does a good job of that and it showed how much we missed him when he went - and I didn't make the right plays or the right calls.

"I was always in two minds. It has been a while since I last played 10. There are loads of excuses - but I didn't perform.

"I made a lot of mistakes and at international level they get punished. It was a harsh learning curve.

Sale number eight Sebastien Chabal has been banned for five weeks for stamping on Wasps' Lawrence Dallaglio and will miss the European Cup quarter-final against Biarritz on April 2nd.