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This article titled “I would be happy to sign Gavin Henson for Saracens, says Brendan Venter” was written by Paul Rees, for theguardian.com on Tuesday 26th October 2010 00.02 UTC

Gavin Henson trained with Saracens yesterday, his first involvement in rugby since he was injured playing for Ospreys 18 months ago, with the Watford-based club’s coach, Brendan Venter, saying he would be happy to sign the 28-year-old Welshman.

Saracens are looking for a fly-half, with Derick Hougaard ruled out for up to six months with an achilles tendon injury, but there are two issues to resolve over Henson. The first is his contractual status with Ospreys and the second is when he will be available because of his commitments on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

Nonetheless Venter believes he would be a welcome addition to the side. “Gav had a fantastic session with us and was well received by the squad,” he said. “I would be happy to sign him. We wanted to meet him, show him our facilities and to see if this is a place where he wanted to play rugby again.

“I asked him why he wanted to join us and he said it was to rediscover his competitive side and prove himself again. That was the right answer for me.”

Henson’s lawyers have contended that the player’s contract with Ospreys is void because he has not been paid for more than a year having taken a sabbatical. The region disagrees and a suggested compromise is that Henson spends this season in London and returns to Swansea next summer for at least the final year of his contract.

Saracens’ chief executive, Edward Griffiths said: “We are in discussions with the Ospreys but we still need to agree on how he can relaunch his rugby career and continue with Strictly Come Dancing. There are still some other things that need to be tied down and it is by no means done and dusted. I hope we can reach an agreement but we recognise he has an existing commitment to honour.”

Venter expects the issue to be “sorted in the next few days”. He added: “We have said to Gav that he will not be coming here as our saviour, he will be coming to join our squad as one of two fly-halves.”

• This article was amended on 26 October 2010. The original referred to Brian Venter. This has been corrected.

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