THE door to international rugby is not closed for Colin Charvis, even though new Wales coach Warren Gatland has left him out of his 28-player Six Nations squad.

The 94-times capped Newport Gwent Dragons back row forward could yet feature for Wales this season if the team is affected by injuries, Gatland explained.

But he said he is now starting to build for the 2011 World Cup, and he would not expect Charvis to be around for that when he would be 39.

"It's not officially the end for Colin Charvis or Gareth Thomas. I'm looking for depth and if we pick up injuries or need some experience we can call on Colin or Alfie," said Gatland.

"Colin at 35 has done a great job and has been a fantastic player, but he won't be playing in the next World Cup at 39 though if we get one or two injuries he can come in and do a job."

But Gatland has overall delivered a massive snub to the Dragons with prop Rhys Thomas, embarrassingly, the only player from the region in the squad.

Charvis, Kevin Morgan, Ceri Sweeney and, perhaps most surprising of all, Michael Owen have all be omitted.

The Ospreys, on the other hand, supply half the squad with no fewer than 14 players in it while Cardiff Blues have six and Llanelli Scarlets five, with two from Gloucester.

It says everything about the state of the Dragons and ought to be yet another message to the board that they have got to do something to attract major players to Rodney Parade.

Gatland made it pretty clear that if Dwayne Peel does consider moving to France from Wales when his contract with the Scarlets is up at the end of the season he probably wouldn't pick him.

The new coach wants players to remain in Wales and says they will jeopardise their future if they move outside as he made a firm statement of intent.

"Will it stick? We'll wait and see, but I'm disappointed everyone appears to be looking at this negatively. I know there are a few issues to work through, but as a policy it will help the regions," he said.

"If Dwayne goes, we've got Mike Phillips, then there's Gareth Cooper or we'll find someone else," he added bluntly.

"But I'm confident we can perform well and get some respect back in the jersey as well as reminding the players of their responsibilities.

"This game is about getting results, I can't stand losing, I'm one of the worst in the world for that, though I can take it on the chin if we are beaten by a better team.

"Sometimes it takes time, but I want to make sure we go to Twickenham (Wales' first game on February 2) and come away with a victory.

"We want to go up there with self belief and confidence as the Ospreys and the Blues showed in their victories at the weekend. As a group it's how we come into a new environment, but I'm a simple guy and I expect every time players put the red jersey to show they have a responsibility.

"We'll go to Twickenham concentrating on our own performance, we can't take too much notice of them. It's about us and there's not a huge amount of pressure on ourselves, and if we concentrate on all that we can come up with a very good performance.

"It's massive here, I realise that already. I was mobbed in the supermarket by people wanting Wales to do well, it's not wrong to have expectations but we've got to make sure they're not over the top.

"So give us time to bed in. I'd like a bit more time than Sam Allardyce got at Newcastle, I wouldn't mind more than eight months!

"But I'm looking forward to it.

"The Six Nations is such a hard tournament to win but if you get on a roll anything can happen."