London: Jonny Wilkinson welcomed Gavin Henson back into the Toulon fold on Monday, declaring that there was no bad blood between them and that the Welshman had apologised to the squad for the behaviour that had led to his suspension by the club.
One of the causes of the late-night bust-up was reputedly critical comments made about Wilkinson, Henson — supposedly taking issue with the notion that the England fly-half was the best player in the world.
"It hasn't affected me at all," said Wilkinson after morning training. "Gavin said to the guys that that wasn't the true Gavin speaking. He showed his true feelings to us and said that he was sorry. The perpetrator in it all was drink, I guess."
Difficult evening
"It was a difficult evening. I wasn't even there so it's best to set the record straight on that. I'd been talking to Gavin that afternoon after the match against Toulouse, telling him that I admired the way he'd got back up to this level so quickly after so long out of the game.
"I've spent good times with Gavin here, enjoyed training with him. As for the remarks [attributed to Henson], well, then he wouldn't be the only person thinking like that round the world, and rightly so. I've always said that I get too much praise."
Few could question that Wilkinson has managed to do just that in his two years on the Cote d'Azur.
