Gavin Henson aims to grab his 'last chance' of World Cup

Gavin Henson believes he is about to enter the "last-chance saloon" as he prepares for his return as a Test match player with Wales.

The clock is ticking on Henson's hopes of achieving a career ambition by featuring in a Rugby World Cup - and he knows it. That is why he intends doing everything he possibly can to be aboard the Wales squad's New Zealand-bound flight in just three months' time.

Henson will run out against the Barbarians in Cardiff tomorrow after a season when he ended his long self-imposed exile from rugby through brief stints with Saracens and Toulon. And, despite not being offered a new contract by the wealthy French club, who also suspended him following an altercation with a team-mate after he helped Toulon beat Toulouse in April, Henson is thinking only about Wales following his recall by coach Warren Gatland.

"It's great to be back," he said. "I am over the moon to get this chance - I have really missed it. I feel mentally refreshed. I have got a chance here, and I will do everything I can to hopefully force my way into these August internationals (Wales play England twice and Argentina), and then looking forward to the World Cup.

"The World Cup is the biggest stage, and it is something I have missed out on twice. But I have got a lot to do. I am down the pecking order at the moment, which is fair enough."

Henson has not represented Wales since the 2009 RBS Six Nations campaign. He walked away from the game, making appearances on celebrity television shows, and there were many who wondered whether he had the desire to play top-level sport again. He could be in for a decidedly cool reception in the dressing room, with colleagues understood to be unimpressed by his recall.

Meanwhile, All Blacks full-back Mils Muliaina and former international team-mate Rodney So'oialo will move to Japan when their contracts end with the New Zealand Rugby Union. Muliaina, the joint most-capped All Black, will join NTT Docomo after the World Cup, while back row forward So'oialo joins Honda Heat at the end of the Super Rugby season.

Barbarians: I Nacewa (Leinster and Fiji); P Sackey (Toulon and England), S Rabeni (La Rochelle and Fiji), M Bastareaud (Stade Francais and France), D Howlett (Munster and New Zealand); B James (Clermont Auvergne), S Tillous-Borde (Castres and France), I Thomas (Scarlets and Wales), S Bruno (Toulon and France), C Hayman (Toulon and New Zealand), J Tekori (Castres and Samoa), P Tito (Cardiff Blues), J van Niekerk (Toulon and South Africa), M Williams (Cardiff Blues and Wales), S Parisse (Stade Francais and Italy, capt).

Replacements: L Ghiraldini (Treviso and Italy), D Kubriashvili (Toulon and Georgia), E Lund (Biarritz and Norway), G Smith (Toulon and Australia), L Williams (Cardiff Blues), W Mason (Toulon), B Baby (Clermont Auvergne and France).