London Welsh coach Lyn Jones has insisted that Gavin Henson will need to be given time if he is to rediscover his form of the past.

The Aviva Premiership new boys secured the signing of the 30-year-old on Monday, after the former Wales international had been without a club since April.

Henson was arguably at the peak of his career under Jones at the Ospreys, and the latter is confident that he can help the the ex-Cardiff Blues centre to get back to his best.

"There's a good chance he'll never reach those heights [of his time at the Ospreys] again to be honest with you, but he just needs to get up to speed and establish himself and I'm not really confident he'll become a very, very good player until about maybe mid-October, November," Jones told Sky Sports News.

"The guy needs a bit of time, he needs a bit of space, his tools are quite blunt and he'll need to sharpen them up, so he's got a lot of work ahead of him that he's prepared to get on with.

"He's rolling his sleeves up, and all you can do is offer people opportunities and it's up to them how they take it but we're confident that he can deliver."

London Welsh are Henson's fifth club in just over 18 months after he was released by the Ospreys in 2010 and endured short spells at Saracens, Toulon and the Blues.