Henson derailed for six weeks by hand injury

Gavin Henson, the prodigy who somehow has the knack of turning a silver spoon into a poisoned chalice, faces another enforced absence from the game after breaking a bone in his left hand. According to his club, the Ospreys, it has nothing to do with the headlines he made earlier this week: "Gavin's drunken train shame" or "Henson on the rails over drunken train antics."

Apparently the injury occurred during the Ospreys' match with Harlequins at the Stoop on Sunday afternoon after which Henson and three friends caught a train from Reading to Cardiff. The four were questioned by British Transport Police after passengers had complained about their behaviour. They claimed that one of the group urinated in a carriage. By all accounts, an armchair ride it was not.

In a 19-8 victory over the Quins, which put the Ospreys into next year's semi-finals of the EDF Energy Cup at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Henson scored all his side's points. After being named man of the match, he reported that he was back on track and in prime form. "Where's the champagne?" he asked.

However, Rhydian Lewis, the Ospreys' team doctor, said yesterday: "On reviewing the video of the match it appears that an opposition boot accidentally came into contact with his hand and Gavin can clearly be seen holding his left hand as he gets back on his feet.

"He was able to complete the game, albeit in some pain. We checked out the injury immediately after the final whistle and the diagnosis was a suspected fracture of the fourth metacarpal of the left hand. An X-ray on Monday morning confirmed our suspicions."

Henson's hand has been set in a cast and although he will be able to continue with his fitness training, he will be out of action for four to six weeks which means he will miss the remaining matches in the pool stages of the Heineken Cup, beginning with the tie against Ulster this evening.

"Gavin and our medical staff have been working hard in an effort to get him on the pitch against Ulster," Kevin Hopkins, the Ospreys' director of rugby, said, "but in the end we decided that his long term well-being is best served by him getting the hand properly sorted out. He's an excellent rugby professional and no one works harder at their skills and conditioning than he does."

The 25-year-old Henson, a former world junior player of the year, has been described as Wales's answer to Jonny Wilkinson but is developing an orthopaedic history to match. He failed to make the World Cup in Australia in 2003, hit a high with the winning penalty against England in Cardiff in 2005, a victory that kickstarted Wales to a Six Nations Grand Slam, but a series of injuries kept him at the side of his partner Charlotte Church instead of playing for the Ospreys or Wales. He and Charlotte were described as the Celtic Posh and Becks with a difference Gavin can kick penalties and Charlotte can sing.

After being dropped from the World Cup squad for France by the then Wales coach Gareth Jenkins, Henson started his first match for his country in a year against South Africa a couple of weeks ago. Then came the match winning performance against the Quins and the 19.37 train from Reading.

"Spirits were high among the group given the nature of the victory and they apologise for any inconvenience caused to fellow passengers," an Ospreys' statement said.

In a team game why did not Henson travel with the rest of the squad? If he had been on the coach going down the M4 the medical staff could have begun treating his injury.

* The New Zealand Rugby Union yesterday interviewed four candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coach job: Graham Henry, who had to reapply for the position, Robbie Deans, Colin Cooper and Ian Foster.