As part of the Senior Player Selection Policy, three wildcard selections are permitted for players playing outside of Wales and who are ‘captured’ by the policy.
Whilst sitting down with the media for the first time since his appointment, Howley stressed the importance of the policy, not only for the here and now but for the future of the game in Wales.
“The selection policy is all about looking after our succession plan, making sure our best players want to stay and play their rugby in Wales,” said Howley.
“People want to watch our best players playing in Wales and that will have a knock on effect throughout the game and we have that responsibility.
“There are times when players will benefit, in certain situations from going away and we have to be aware of that.
“I benefited myself from going to Wasps and there will be times when players make a ‘selfish’ decision to go and in those situations we have wildcards available.
“Players who will need one of the wildcards available to play for Wales and they are aware of that risk.
“We want to create an environment where the majority of players want to stay and we want to make sure the future and the likes of Sam Davies, Harrison Keddie and Keelan Giles stay in Wales.
“We have got hard calls to make, the players are aware of that but we have to think to the future of the game.”
Since the introduction of National Dual Contracts (NDC’s) international stars such as Jonathan Davies, Dan Lydiate and Bradley Davies have returned to Wales at the same time as a host of current internationals have committed their future to remain at their Region.
Three wildcard selections are available to the Head Coach for each campaign during the 2016/17 season, with seven players captured by the policy for the current season – click here for 2016/17 Senior Player Selection Policy.
