Loss of players hits Wales hard – Howley

But Howley, Wales’s interim head coach, is confident ongoing talks between the Welsh Rugby Union and four professional regions – Cardiff Blues, Scarlets, Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons – can reach a satisfactory conclusion.

Howley will take his autumn Test squad to Poland next weekend for an intensive training camp ahead of appointments with Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia.

France-based quartet James Hook, Luke Charteris, Mike Phillips and Gethin Jenkins, though, are not available due to club commitments in the Top 14 with Perpignan, Bayonne and Toulon, respectively.

It is also highly unlikely they will make Wales’s final autumn Test against Australia on December 1, as that game falls outside the International Rugby Board fixture window and clubs are not obliged to release their players.

Two other Wales stars – centre Jamie Roberts and flanker Dan Lydiate – are the latest names to be linked with French moves when their existing regional contracts expire at the end of this season. And Howley revealed that he recently travelled to France alongside Wales boss Warren Gatland for discussions with clubs.

“Warren and myself went over to France and had five or six days with the various coaching teams in Bayonne, Toulon and Perpignan,” said Howley. “At this moment in time, those players are unlikely to be involved in the Australia game. But it is important we look at every individual case and why that player is in France.

“If they are being head-hunted, then surely between the agent, the player and the club president there can be some sort of arrangement that the player becomes available for some preparation time or a game outside the IRB Test window.”