Henson has a worthy fly-half rival in Alex Goode
SARACENS have this week added a special talent to our squad in Gavin Henson, although the man he will be rivalling for the No10 shirt has excelled lately.
Alex Goode is contracted as a full-back but with Derick Hougaard ruled out for six months we have used him at fly-half, where he can also play.
He has been outstanding. I never doubted that he had the talent, only whether he could run the game, but he has shown that he can do just that in his last two appearances, against Newcastle and Leinster.
Henson will get his chance in that role soon enough, however. We play with a rotation system so we will see him in action, once his television commitments have been fulfilled.
In the meantime Gavin will train with Saracens and practice for the show in the afternoons. How soon he gets to play does not depend entirely on us, but once he is completely free I think we could see him in a Saracens shirt quite quickly.
Of more immediate concern is tomorrow’s match against Exeter Chiefs. They work hard, are a class act and it’s no coincidence that they have done as well as they have since coming up into the Premiership. London Irish beat them last weekend but will probably feel that they were lucky to do so, as we did too at Newcastle.
That was a tough game. We went a try down and got a yellow card with three minutes to go but the guys kept at it and turned it around.
Brendan Venter is director of rugby at Saracens, who play USA Eagles at the Honourable Artillery Company grounds on Tuesday 9 November at 2pm. Tickets start at £30 and are available on 01727 792 800.