GATLAND’S law is right at the top of the agenda again, but he is going to struggle to enforce it if Wales are to have any chance in the World Cup in New Zealand in September.

The Wales coach announced a 45-strong preliminary squad after being on the wrong end of the result against the Barbarians, and warned that those who are not at training before August 4 will find it tough to make the tournament.

Under International Board regulations clubs do not have to release their players before that date, which happens to fall just two days before Wales’ first warm-up fixture against England at Twickenham.

But the Wales squad meet up at the Vale of Glamorgan as early as June 13 and two training camps have been arranged in Poland in July.

Gatland is saying those players who don’t show because their clubs won’t release them until they are bound to do so under IRB regulations may well not make the World Cup.

But hang on a minute. With respect to English-based Dwayne Peel and Andy Powell who are unlikely to be released because of the stance taken by Premier Rugby Limited, it’s one thing coping without a pair who are fairly fringe players but it’s another thing altogether with James Hook in particular and Lee Byrne as well who are both heading for France this summer.

Hook has signed a lucrative deal with Perpignan and Byrne is heading for Clermont Auvergne while there is increasing speculation Mike Phillips could be heading across the channel as well after the Ospreys virtually placed him on the transfer list. French clubs may not have the blanket ban in place that Premier Rugby does in England about the release of players outside the agreed international window, but they are not exactly renowned for their co-operation either.

So what does Gatland do if Hook and Byrne and maybe Phillips are not released for training in June and for camps in July? Leave them out for the World Cup? Surely not for that would make Wales a laughing stock.

Gatland’s aims are laudable and clearly he wants to give his adopted country the best possible chance. Fine, but his policy is pretty much in tatters, it’s not going to work in this free market age.

Obviously players who are lured away from Wales on big money deals have got to ensure release clauses are put into their contracts. But that’s for agreed internationals, it’s hardly going to cover lengthy training periods as well.

Gatland can’t enforce it and as for his threat that players who miss summer training are risking their World Cup places – really? Wales heading for New Zealand without James Hook? As John McEnroe once said ‘you cannot be serious’.

Hook is Wales’ most inventive back, a player who can make things happen as he showed in the opening minutes against Scotland in this year’s Six Nations.

And Byrne, though suffering a dip in form, remains a key part of the Wales set-up with real challengers thin on the ground.

So Gatland can huff and puff all he likes – and as I’ve already said he is acting in Wales’ best interests – but he’s fighting a losing battle here. Enforcing his own particular rule is going to be like holding back the tide.

It’s going to be difficult enough for a struggling Wales team to make an impression in the World Cup anyway with a quarter-final place very much on the line, but to risk going in without Hook and Byrne, maybe Phillips and Powell and Peel as possible squad members is inviting disaster.

Wales are facing back-to-back games against England plus Argentina in August before they even go to New Zealand on the back of a winless autumn series and a fourth-place in the Six Nations.

And first up in the World Cup are holders South Africa, sure to be a bruising clash with the risk of injuries before they take on Samoa, who are on a ten-week training camp and represent a real banana skin.

Tough enough with a full strength team, but without a few top players who may not be able to attend summer training? Impossible!

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL AT RODNEY PARADE!

THE rise and rise of Newport Gwent Dragons. A record five players named in the Wales 22 to play the Barbarians, all of whom played a part in the game and two more new caps in the ranks – Toby Faletau and Lloyd Burns.

And then a sixth Dragon named in the preliminary World Cup squad, Jason Tovey joining Faletau, Burns, Aled Brew, Luke Charteris and Dan Lydiate. Riches indeed for the Dragons who previously hadn’t managed to get more than three players in a Wales 22 which speaks volumes for the way they developed last season, for the brand of rugby they played and for the rich vein of talent they now have at their disposal.

And before long there could be more players knocking at the Wales door. I’m thinking of Adam Hughes who enjoyed a terrific season and won the Argus readers’ player-of-the-year trophy at the end of it. But you can’t have everything and there could be a down side to all this. For the Dragons don’t possess great strength in depth and they still struggle a bit if they suffer injuries.

Now it’s international call-ups that could expose their shortage of cover and if a number of their players do actually make the World Cup they could hit problems at the start of the Magners League season.

It will make Darren Edwards & Co give things a hard look when they reassemble later this month.

They are likely to go to the board for an increase in the budget because they may well need more quality players. And in the current optimistic mood, with a string of players called up by Wales, the team’s development and the major ground developments going ahead the signs are the board will be sympathetic.