Toulon to ask England for give and take over releasing Jonny Wilkinson

Toulon will ask England to release Jonny Wilkinson from their pre-autumn international training camp at the end of the month to play in a Top 14 match in Toulouse on 30 October. The French club are prepared to rest the 31-year-old fly-half on Saturday when they take on Munster in the Heineken Cup, something they would use as a bargaining tool with the England team manager, Martin Johnson.

England's training camp is not governed by the International Rugby Board's regulation governing the release of players for Test match duty, because the opening November international, against New Zealand at Twickenham on 6 November, falls outside the official Test window, meaning clubs not in the Premiership are not obliged to make their players available.

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Wilkinson has a clause in his contract with Toulon allowing him to be with England whenever called on, regardless of whether it is within a period governed by the IRB regulation, and Twickenham issued a statement today which pointed out that a condition of Wilkinson being selected in the elite player squad, along with James Haskell and Tom Palmer of Stade Français, was that their club contracts allowed them to fulfil all of England's release dates.

"We will not make any attempt to stop Jonny playing against New Zealand," the Toulon team manager, Tom Whitford, said. "What we do ask for is a bit of give and take. Toulouse is a big match for us and we would like Jonny to be involved. We will sit down and talk with him next week and we are in constant dialogue with England."

Whitford said reports that Wilkinson would miss the trip to Munster because of a knee injury were untrue. "He is fit for selection but we have to take a decision on him because he has played every match this season. If he did not play, it would be something we hope would count in our favour come his availability for the Toulouse match."

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Ex-captain Jones doubts return of Wales centre Henson

Henson has been on unpaid leave since injury struck him down while playing for the Ospreys in April 2009.

Henson was quoted in a Sunday newspaper supplement saying he wanted to play at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

But Jones doubts Henson will return, saying: "My head probably says no and my heart would love to see him back."

Henson's relationship with entertainer Charlotte Church has recently ended and Henson is quoted as saying the motivation of his children Ruby and Dexter seeing him play for Wales at the World Cup will spur his return to the sport.

But unconfirmed reports have linked him with a place on the BBC's popular show Strictly Come Dancing, which could prevent his return to rugby until late December.

Howver, Robert Jones also believes Wales coach Warren Gatland, Ospreys director Mike Cuddy and coaching boss Scott Johnson could help persuade the player to return.

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"That's the big question mark, the fact that he's gone away from the game - he's enjoyed the last 12 months or so and he's probably in a position now where he's questioning whether he does want to or need to come back to play rugby.

"I'd love to say to him that he's going to be a long time out of the game and he would have missed this period of time and if he doesn't get back on the field I'm sure he'll regret it enormously in the future.

"So I'd love to think that he does get back there, but I do question whether the desire to play regional and international rugby is there or putting his body through the demands of professionalism and I think that's the big problem.

"If Warren Gatland and perhaps Mike Cuddy or Scott Johnson down at the Ospreys can convince him to get back and do that, well you've got a quality player that Wales would be desperate to select.

"But it's down to the individual. It's down to whether he wants it enough because desire and ambition play a big part."

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