Henson makes New Year's Day Liberty return

Gavin Henson will run out at the Liberty Stadium for the first time in almost three years this weekend after being named at fullback in the Cardiff Blues team for the New Year's Day derby match that kicks off at 6.30pm.

Henson’s last appearance at the Liberty was back in January 2009, when he featured at fullback in the Ospreys team that defeated Leicester Tigers 15-9 in the Heineken Cup, in what turned out to be his penultimate game for his home region.

In total, the Blues make five changes from the XV that defeated the Dragons just before Christmas as they look for their first win at the Liberty Stadium since December 2005 when they recorded a 28-9 victory.

Cardiff Blues team:

15 Gavin Henson 14 Leigh Halfpenny 13 Casey Laulala 12 Gavin Evans 11 Alex Cuthbert 10 Ceri Sweeney 9 Lloyd Williams

8 Xavier Rush 7 Josh Navidi 6 Maama Molitika 5 Paul Tito (c) 4 Bradley Davies 3 Scott Andrews 2 Ryan Tyrell 1 John Yapp

Replacements:

16 Marc Breeze 17 Sam Hobbs 18 Ryan Harford 19 Michael Paterson 20 Sam Warburton 21 Richie Rees 22 Dan Parks 23 Harry Robinson