 Gavin Henson has an Achilles tendon problem ahead of Wales v South Africa
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Wales have suffered a huge blow ahead of their clash with South Africa in Cardiff on Saturday with with Gavin Henson ruled out by injury.
Henson sat out Wales' final training session on Friday and afterwards it was confirmed an Achilles problem has denied him the chance to face the Boks.
Tom Shanklin has been brought into the midfield to partner fellow Cardiff Blue Jamie Roberts.
Henson's fellow Osprey Andrew Bishop replaces Shanklin on the bench.
Henson trained on Tuesday morning, but not the afternoon and the same pattern was repeated on Thursday as Wales sought to nurse him through the problem.
An ankle injury that needed surgery ruled Henson out of Wales' tour to South Africa in the summer and he has started only three Ospreys games this season after first appearing as a replacement against Ulster on 27 September.
He was also hit by a two-match ban for skipping Ospreys training, further limiting his game time in the build-up to the autumn Tests that kick off against the world champion Springboks.
Wales backs coach Robert Howley said: "Gavin told us that he's mentally and physically not ready.
"We left that decision to Gavin Henson and we feel he is a mature person and Gavin decided to make that decision to make himself unavailable to play against South Africa.
"We hope the situation with Gavin will get better. He aggravated the injury on Sunday, six days ahead of the the international.
"I think the fact he played on a football surface six days before the game didn't help.
"A six-day turnaround is a high demand on players and Gavin Henson has fallen foul of that."
Wales: Lee Byrne (Ospreys); Leigh Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues), Gavin Henson (Ospreys), Shane Williams (Ospreys); Stephen Jones (Scarlets), Gareth Cooper (Gloucester); Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), Matthew Rees (Scarlets), Adam Jones (Ospreys), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Ian Evans (Ospreys), Ryan Jones (Ospreys, capt), Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues), Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues).
Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Ospreys), Duncan Jones (Ospreys), Ian Gough (Ospreys), Dafydd Jones (Scarlets), Dwayne Peel (Sale Sharks), James Hook (Ospreys), Tom Shanklin (Cardiff Blues).
South Africa team: Conrad Jantjes; JP Pietersen, Adrian Jacobs; Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Ruan Pienaar, Fourie du Preez; Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit (capt), Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies.
Replacements: Brian Mujati, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Andries Bekker, Ryan Kankowski, Ricky Januarie, Frans Steyn, Jaque Fourie.
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