Wales boss Warren Gatland has no doubt that Gavin Henson is fit and ready to make his long awaited Test rugby return in Paris.

Henson will be among the replacements when Wales continue their RBS 6 Nations title and Grand Slam quest against France.

He has not featured on the international stage since Wales beat Les Bleus to land last season's Six Nations crown, missing eight successive Tests.

And Henson's last game of any kind was more than four weeks ago when the Ospreys defeated Heineken Cup rivals Leicester.

But after shaking off a calf muscle strain that ruled him out of Wales' opening Six Nations victories over Scotland and England, Gatland saw enough to satisfy him during training last week.

Gatland said: "What I wanted with Gavin was for him to be involved with us in training last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

"We trained really hard on Wednesday, Thursday was a lighter day and Friday was really tough as well.
"If you talk to the players in terms of what they go through on the training pitch, they are not lengthy sessions, but they are pretty intensive.

"Players are put under a lot of pressure and we try to simulate game situations as much as we can.

"If we are doing that in a training environment, you sometimes feel particularly experienced players can cope with the fact they haven't had a lot of rugby.

"We just needed two or three days for us to see where Gavin was in terms of fitness, sharpness and skill level. He trained really well last week."

Henson has failed to break up the all-Cardiff Blues centre pairing of Tom Shanklin and Jamie Roberts though, taking over from Andrew Bishop on the bench.

And his selection comes less than a week after Henson and three Wales colleagues - Andy Powell, Jonathan Thomas and Rhys Thomas - were rebuked by Gatland and team manager Alan Phillips.

All four players apologised after what the Welsh Rugby Union termed "varying degrees of regrettable conduct" while they were out in Cardiff celebrating the England win eight days ago.

Gatland has made a solitary change in the starting line-up, welcoming back wing Shane Williams.

Williams, scorer of 45 tries in 62 Tests, is now fit following an ankle injury that meant he missed the England encounter, reclaiming the number 11 shirt from Mark Jones.

But Gatland has otherwise retained the team that accounted for England as Wales seek a record-equalling ninth successive Six Nations victory.

"A fit Shane Williams is a player any coach would want in their side," Gatland added.

"So it was a natural decision for him to come in for Mark Jones, with no disrespect to Mark who did a good job for us against England."

Wales' hopes of moving to within two more wins of achieving first back-to-back Grand Slams in 100 years have seemingly been enhanced by a punishing French club programme.

While Gatland's stars enjoyed the weekend off, numerous French Six Nations players were pummelling each other in Top 14 fixtures, highlighted by yesterday's battle between Toulouse and Clermont Auvergne.

And there can be little doubt the countries' respective degrees of preparation time could have a significant bearing on the first Friday night fixture in Six Nations history.

"It is going to be interesting to see how they (French players) are managed over the next couple of days in terms of recovery," said Gatland.

"It is going to be difficult for them to do a hell of a lot before Friday night's game.

"We trained Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week, and then the players had the weekend off.

"There is no denying the fact our preparation going into this game is a hell of a lot better. I would rather be in my shoes at the moment than Marc Lievremont's, because it has made his preparation difficult.

"Some times that sort of thing galvanises a team, though, and we've got to be aware of that.

"But you have got to feel sorry for Marc Lievremont and the French side in terms of their preparation. You are going to struggle to do much between now and Wednesday.

"We know how tough it will be for them with a short turnaround for many of their players who have featured in domestic rugby this weekend.

"We had a similar experience ourselves in between the Scotland and England games (a six day gap) and found it hard going, so that is something we must try to take advantage of."