The Welsh have got a problem with their fly-halves, haven’t they?”
Normally the New Zealander would not refer to Wales in the third person. But when it comes to emotional baggage Henry, at this stage, is travelling light “Jenkins was the No 1 player against France. How many times does he have to play like that to convince you people?”
It is a fair question. In some respects Jenkins is the William Hague of international rugby There seems to be an image problem. “In his professionalism Jenkins reminds me of Grant Fox,” Henry added, referring to the former All Black. In the all-time points scoring table, Jenkins, who will win his 64th cap when Wales meet England at Wembley next Sunday, has passed 700 and has overtaken Gavin Hastings and Fox to move into second place behind Michael Lynagh.
He’s averaging more than 11 points a game; he also kicked the Lions to victory over South Africa two years ago.So what’s the problem? When Jenkins rolled off the fly-half production line, he didn’t quite fit the mould. His predecessors were sleek, eye- catching, two-door classics with overdrive and sporty trim; Jenkins was a four- door family model with furry dice but no leather upholstery and no acceleration. Barry John he wasn’t.Following the Five Nations defeats to Scotland and Ireland, he was again berated. Then came the stunning victory over France in Paris, a 33-34 extravaganza orchestrated, in the main, by Jenkins “I’ve been here before,” the Pontypridd captain said. “I get a bit fed up but I haven’t got a problem with criticism I’m thick-skinned. They’ve been trying to get rid of me for years, saying I am not the natural fly-half.
They’ll only be happy when I am retired, but then they’ll rip into some other bloke You can’t win. Last year I was lying too deep, and this year I’m lying too flat. The Welsh people expect glory all the time but this isn’t the Seventies. We haven’t got 15 world-class players and we are inconsistent. This is something we’ve got to sort out, but we’re not that good yet.”Twelve months ago Wales, under Kevin Bowring, beat Scotland and Ireland but were slaughtered by England at Twickenham and France at Wembley Playing at full-back, Jenkins had a wretched time “We were run ragged Christ, we were blitzed.. shell-shocked I should never have agreed to play full- back It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever done. If I wasn’t good enough to play No 10 I wasn’t good enough to be in the team. I didn’t enjoy the season with club or country.”When Bath made a move for him Jenkins was ready to do the unthinkable and leave the Rhondda Valley club but the Welsh Rugby Union blocked the move.