Put yourself in Ross Moriarty’s size 10 brogues: he has the choice of which team to play for next season, with a number of leading English clubs watching the situation closely and apparently prepared to pay him his weight in gold.

Then along come the Welsh Rugby Union and tell him they want to see him back in Wales.

The likelihood is they will be unable to match the wages on offer from the cream of English rugby.

But as a sweetener the governing body tell the youngster that if he signs up he will have to go to whichever region in Wales he is directed.

His likely response? “Er, thanks but no thanks”, while whispering under his breath: “This lot are having a laugh. Sweetener, indeed.”

Ross Moriarty is out of contract at the end of the season
Ross Moriarty in action for Gloucester

Fortunately, the bit about being a player being forcibly directed to a region is not in line with reality in Wales. If a player agrees to come home on a national dual contract he doesn’t have to join his original region if he can come up with satisfactory reasons as to why he should be based elsewhere.

So Dan Lydiate went to the Ospreys and so did Brad Davies, while Leigh Halfpenny joined the Scarlets.

The problem, from the perspective of the other two regions, is that this simply reinforces the position of the West Wales teams as the dominant forces in the country.

It prompted an intervention from Cardiff Blues head coach Danny Wilson, suggesting the joint-contract system needs overhauling.

“The problem is the system has the risk at the moment of feeding the strong,” said Wilson.

“If players have the choice where they go, perhaps the more successful Welsh players will go to certain clubs who will then attract the other internationals for obvious reasons.

“They will be with a side who are considered to be at the top end of the league or in European competition.

“For us to get to that point we need our fair share in the future and I’m sure the WRU is looking at that.

"Financially it is a huge gain. You are getting a world class player for 40 percent of what that player is worth, which is worth a huge amount to us as a region.

Cardiff Blues Head Coach Danny Wilson
Cardiff Blues head coach Danny Wilson

“I suppose it depends what the aim and the goal is for regional rugby.

“There’s different models around sport. In the US, with their draft system (American Football), they get offered a contract to go and play where they get picked.

“Here, it’s one of those where it’s the contract offer to play for a club and every player has a choice to turn it down or accept.

“If they turn it down, they open themselves up to offers from wherever they want to play.

“For us at Cardiff Blues, we need to become more attractive to those players. It’s our job to make sure we are attractive but if the system carries on as it is it will continue feeding the strong.”

Wilson added: “I suppose at some point it’s going to have to change otherwise we could end up where the number of NDCs in West Wales keep growing and perhaps not many coming this way.”

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Is a Welsh rugby draft system a good idea?

Wilson is understandably batting for Cardiff Blues at a time when there has reportedly been significant belt-tightening across the region.

He is a fine rugby coach who did much to transform the Scarlets pack during his time in Llanelli.

But players can’t be forced to play anywhere.

Go down that road and they will simply look to England.

How would a WRU draft offer look compared with the option of a big-money move to Saracens, with their hunger for trophies and summer trips to Bermuda and mid-season treks to New York, Barcelona or even the Munich beer festival?

Players have short careers and do not want to spend them playing European Challenge Cup rugby, either.

Gareth Jenkins

“This is the benchmark for Welsh rugby,” Gareth Jenkins once said of the area from Llanelli across to Swansea and Neath. That was 20 or so years ago.

Not much has changed since.

A draft system won’t happen in Wales, anyway.

But if it did it would simply encourage more players to steer clear of the regional scene.

Which would be more than a bit self-defeating.