The towering lock packs down alongside Ian Evans as Warren Gatland’s men take on Tonga in the Dove Men Series.
It has been a long road to recovery after Charteris suffered a serious knee injury while playing for Perpignan last December.
The former Newport Gwent Dragons favourite admits it was a bitter pill to swallow but he hopes to return to the red-hot form that saw him an ever-present feature in 2011.
“It’s has been a long way back. It was the end of December when the injury happened,” said Charteris.
“I was looking down and I saw the bottom half of my leg over here – it’s one of those you know instantly it’s going to be a long spell out.
“I was just lying on the pitch and I knew straight away – the Six Nations was gone, any chance of the Lions was gone. You know all that straight away and you have a few days of mopping around and whatever. But it’s part of the job, you’ve just got to suck it up.
“The aim is to get back to my World Cup form and I was happy with the way I played in the year after the tournament.
“Everything was good but then I had the wrist injury and then the knee injury – that’s the way it is.
“There’s always ups and downs. The only good thing about having a long term injury like that is that it gives the rest of your body a chance to heal up and get over all the knocks and stuff and I’ve basically been given a year’s pass, so it’s one year less under the engine which was quite good.”
