Gavin Henson could make a shock return to rugby around the time the Six Nations kicks off in February with Wales facing England at Twickenham on February the 6th.

Henson might not feature in Wales' opening SixNations matches but if he did return he could feature in the latter stages of the tournament.

The double Wales Grand Slam-winning centre is on indefinite unpaid leave with the Ospreys and will sit down with Ospreys bosses in the next few weeks in order to thrash out his rugby future.

Henson was put on leave so that he could sort out his injuries and to work out whether he wants to carry on playing rugby.

Ospreys managing director Mike Cuddy is a big supporter of Henson and will discuss whether he can feature in the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup.

Wales coach Warren Gatland will be keeping a close eye on Henson's meeting with Cuddy as he wants a fit-again Henson in his team in order to get some midfield flair which was missing during the November internationals.

Cuddy said: "A lot of things have been said about Gavin and most of them are nonsense.

"I am in regular contact with him and the two of us will sit down in early February, once the Heineken Cup qualification games are out of the way.

"It has been frustrating reading some of the things that have been said. One day he was a great player, the next he was being written off.

"Of course, he has been sorely missed. Any team in the world would miss a player of Gavin's quality.

"But there was nothing we could do about it.

"His injury problems got on top of him and he decided to have a break.

"He is no different to any other rugby player. That is how I have treated him. We will have a chat and see what comes of it."

It has been reported that Henson has been training on his own while he works out whether he can return to rugby after winning 35 Wales caps and two Grand Slams.

Sources close to the player say the extended rest is helping and Henson believes his troublesome leg is getting better.

But the Ospreys have made it clear Henson will be in no position to feature at the start of the SixNations.

"'I don't see how he could get himself ready, given the time scale," coach Sean Holley told the Western Mail.

"'Even if he did come back today, the modern game and the modern conditioning are such that he wouldn’t be able to play for us for a while."