Back when Gavin Henson was at his playing peak, he was a visible presence on the frontpages as well as the backpages of the papers.
Off The Ball's premier rugby correspondent Brian O'Driscoll had the pleasure of sharing a room with the former Wales centre on a Lions Tour and tonight, Ireland's former captain and Wales' ex-scrum-half Dwayne Peel had a couple of stories to tell about Henson's willingness to put pride in his own appearance.
"I roomed with Gavin Henson on a Lions tour and the morning of a midweek game I remember going 'will I go for a piss or not? I think I need to go,'" said Brian at tonight's Off The Ball Roadshow in Limerick ahead of Sunday's Six Nations opener against Wales, which also featured ex-Ireland captain Keith Wood.
"I decided not to and said 'hang on another while and try and snooze here'. Gav goes into the bathroom and a solid three hours later came out the most pristine you have ever seen in your life. The full St Tropez, legs shaved, immaculate hair and he said 'if you look good, you play good'. I think he played alright that night!"
What does Peel think of Gavin Henson? "Gav, he's mad... didn't know any of the plays... what was the question?" #OTBLimerick
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) February 3, 2016
Peel had a Henson story of his own.
Dwayne Peel and Gavin Henson (Picture by: David Davies / PA Archive/Press Association Images)
"Literally, yesterday we were in training in Bristol and he's the same: fully tanned up and this is the God's honest truth now ... one of the boys goes 'your skin's looking good, Gav'. He says 'yeah, I started washing and showering with Evian'. So he's buying bottled water and bathing in that. That's how crazy he is," said Peel.
