OF ALL the madcap ideas brought in by the Welsh Rugby Union this has to be one of the maddest - trying to influence selection for the national team according to where a player plays his rugby.

From now on, we are told, a player will have much less chance of playing for Wales if he plies his trade outside the country.

It doesn't apply to current players, but it will to those who are tempted away in the future.

Of course it's desirable to have all the leading players playing in Wales, and it's a plan that has worked well enough in the past in New Zealand and South Africa.

But that's the point, it's in the past and shouldn't be part of the future. It's even imploding in the Southern Hemisphere where a whole raft of players like Luke McAlister, Chris Jack, Carl Haymans, Percy Montgomery, Victor Matfield and Jon Smit have all flown the nest.

The Springboks are set to rescind the ruling about players who leave being eligible for their country and New Zealand could well follow suit.

It was announced today that Scarlets and Wales scrum half Dwayne Peel will join Sale Sharks at the end of the season.

Why shouldn't he, and without jeopardising his international career as well?

Obviously the financial incentives for any player to play for a leading club in France or England are considerable and it seems fair enough if a player wants to cash in on his obvious ability, for it can be a very short career if serious injury intervenes.

But not only that, to play in France is to experience a different way of life and, above all, different weather.

Scrum half Chris Cusiter recently said in an interview what a joy it is to train in fine weather and on firm pitches almost every day in Perpignan whereas when he was in Scotland he had to go training in several layers of clothing and regularly got thoroughly soaked.

And then you have the situation in Wales itself. While the governing body can limit the number of foreign and overseas players who are allowed to play here they are powerless under current legislation to stop them all coming.

No-one wants a load of journeymen from abroad to come in chasing a pension, but look at how influential a few top men can be.

Welsh trailblazers in Europe, Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys rely enormously on their New Zealand contingent.

Xavier Rush, Ben Blair and Paul Tito were vital cogs in the comfortable victory over Harlequins at the weekend and without them the Blues may well not have made it.

And exactly the same applied to the Ospreys for whom Justin Marshall, Filo Tiatia and Marty Holah were hugely influential in the demolition job done on Gloucester.

The Ospreys didn't even start with Jonathan Thomas and Mike Phillips, two top Welsh players, and on the evidence of the game who is to say they should have?

But where does that leave new coach Warren Gatland, who is party to this agreement? He could now be forced to pick players for the Six Nations who don't even start for their region.

What if players like Phillips and Thomas get restless and decide they want to leave? There are only three other teams in Wales at that level and they may all have established players and can't accommodate them.

So what if the players concerned then decide to move on, out of Wales and into England or France? Are they then to be told they are risking their international careers when they have basically been forced out by the presence of overseas stars in Wales?

The whole thing is plain daft, it's unworkable and the idea should be strangled at birth.