Henson is given chance to impress caretaker Davies

News:Gavin Henson has been recalled by Wales to the preliminary squad for their one-off Test against world champions South Africa on November 24th.

The Ospreys centre is one of seven players who did not feature at the World Cup to have been named in the 31-man squad for the Springboks match.

There is no place for World Cup captain Gareth Thomas, as caretaker coach Nigel Davies gives some younger players a chance. Will James also misses out - while Chris Horsman, Kevin Morgan and Dafydd James are all injured and Martyn Williams has retired.

Uncapped Llanelli fullback Morgan Stoddart is included. As well as Henson, Lee Byrne, Tom James, Rhys Thomas, Luke Charteris and Robin Sowden-Taylor also come back in.

Henson was one of the stars of Wales' 2005 Grand Slam win but did not make the World Cup after failing to re-discover his best form following injury.

Davies, who will make way for Warren Gatland after the match, will cut his squad to 24 on Sunday after the next round of Heineken European Cup fixtures.

Davies said: "Gavin Henson is one of the players who is in the category of needing a big game this weekend to convince us he is ready to return to the international arena.

"He has been showing encouraging signs for the Ospreys, and it will be a tough test for him at Gloucester playing against Mike Tindall and Anthony Allen.

"We need him somewhere near the peak of his powers if we are to get the best out of him - and that is what we will be looking for."

South Africa have been rocked by Victor Matfield's withdrawal from their squad.

The lock followed fellow World Cup winners Wikus van Heerden, Danie Rossouw (neck injuries) and Gurthro Steenkamp (hand injury) in pulling out of the tour.

The Springboks are already without Percy Montgomery, Butch James, Ashwin Willemse and Gary Botha, who have all joined their European clubs for the forthcoming season.

Matfield met with coach Jake White and decided that he wanted to spend time with his family before joining Toulon in the new year.

It was also confirmed that Springbok captain John Smit will not play at Twickenham on December 1st after his club Clermont Auvergne refused him permission to join the national side for that fixture.

No positive drug tests were returned during the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the International Rugby Board (IRB) said yesterday.

The tournament's anti-doping programme recorded 212 tests, including urine and blood samples, and no positive results have been revealed by laboratory analysis so far, the IRB said.

Four samples were taken at each of the matches staged in France, Edinburgh and Cardiff while there was also an out-of-competition programme of tests for the first time in the tournament's history.

Treasury Holdings, the Irish-based international real estate company, have agreed a five year sponsorship of Irish Colleges Rugby.