GWENT Dragons have ruled themselves out of the running to sign former Wales captain Colin Charvis -- unless the Welsh Rugby Union step in to offer financial assistance.

Talks between Charvis (pictured) and the Swansea-Neath region have broken down, meaning the back row forward is available.

And Gwent Dragons have a vacancy there because of the release of Andrew Powell, who has joined French club Beziers.

But for financial and availability reasons Gwent will not be pursuing the Swansea star.

"I spoke to Colin at the beginning of the regional restructuring," said Gwent Dragons coach Mike Ruddock.

"He thought about things for a while, but said he was signing with Neath-Swansea because his girl friend had moved down there from Newport to take a job so I assumed he had finalised things.

"There are two factors here, budget and availability. We have budgeted for the money Andrew Powell was on (believed to be £40,000 a year) and Colin would be in the top bracket. There is no budget for that.

"And with World Cup warm-up matches, the World Cup itself, then the Six Nations there would be only a small window when Colin would be available.

"So I would be surprised if Gwent Rugby Limited would be prepared to pay the top rate for someone who would be available for only a small time."

The Wales management are anxious for Charvis to remain in the country and have contacted all the regions to see if one of them will sign him.

Celtic Warriors have ruled it out through contractual obligations and Cardiff have a full complement which would leave Llanelli as the only real possibility, unless the WRU are prepared to offer financial assistance - and they are cash-strapped themselves.

"Alan Phillips (Wales team manager) did ring me," admitted Ruddock. "I'd love to have him because he's a quality player, but because of the budget and his availability we can't."

Meanwhile, Ruddock and Gwent Dragons assistant coach Clive Griffiths are heading for London tomorrow to study Wasps' training methods.

Wasps won the English title at the end of last season after a brilliant late run and a dramatic play-off victory over Gloucester.

Griffiths has strong links with former rugby league ace Shaun Edwards, who is with Wasps, while Ruddock has a similar relationship with Wasps chief coach Warren Gatland from their time in Ireland.