Henson 'gutted' by Lions Test axe

Gavin Henson admitted today that he was "devastated and gutted" by his axing from the Lions squad to face the All Blacks on Saturday.

The new star of Welsh rugby will miss the First Test at Christchurch after head coach Sir Clive Woodward made the shock decision to leave the 23-year-old out of the side.

In a statement last night, which bore all the hallmarks of being spindoctored by the media team headed by former Labour PR chief Alastair Campbell, Henson played down his omission saying he knew that " competition for places was fierce".

But today his true feelings about being dumped became clear. Hensonwho is preparing to face Southland-for the Lions midweek team in Invercargill tomorrow, said: "When Clive read out the team for the Southland game I was absolutely devastated and had a sleepless night. It was really hard to take in because I thought I had a chance of making the Test side, or at least the 22, so to be told I wasn't involved came as such a shock.

"I take my game very seriously and this will take me a while to get over. I didn't sleep at all well last night. Right now I'm just gutted."

"At least I have a game tomorrow, which will help me get it out of my system. It means I can straight away get back to what I do best. The worst thing would be to just be sitting in a hotel room thinking about it. I really need this game tomorrow and of course I have to keep playing, try to press for a Test place later in the tour.