"THAT'S £35,000 down the toilet," said Nick Easter after England had been knocked out of the 2011 World Cup at the quarter-final stage by France, missing out on a bonus payment.

Newport Gwent Dragons must have felt similar when the news came out on Wednesday morning that Taulupe Faletau will play for Bath next season.

They were denied the chance to sell the number eight for a six-figure sum in October by the Welsh Rugby Union but at the start of the week the Dragons hierarchy had some hope that the Wales and Lions star would in fact be staying at Rodney Parade.

There was genuine optimism that the 25-year-old from Pontypool was seriously contemplating a U-turn, going back on his desire to test himself in the Aviva Premiership in favour of another year or so with his home region.

Alas, those hopes were dashed just after 9am when Bath announced their big signing. Time to trot out that 'it's the hope that kills you' quote.

There is no resentment towards Faletau, who has been a wonderful servant. It was a sign of the man that while his teammates were back in the changing room after Sunday's win against Munster the number eight – who put in a gargantuan performance – was still signing autographs and posing for pictures with young fans.

He will thrive at a big club in a vibrant league. The Dragons' training facilities may be much-improved now that they are based at Ystrad Mynach but they are nothing on Bath's Farleigh House headquarters and he will be honing his skills alongside a raft of international talent and playing for silverware.

He just fancies a fresh challenge and will hopefully become an even better player.

There will, however, be resentment towards the WRU after the Dragons have missed out on a transfer fee for a player who will play in December and January before going off for the Six Nations then returning for the Guinness Pro12 run-in.

While it's terrific that we have a few more chances to watch Faletau in action in Dragons colours, it's quite a cost per match for someone who will be signing off in May.

The governing body will say that they hoped to persuade him to sign a national dual contract and had they managed to convince Faletau then it would have vindicated their decision to put a kibosh on the transfer.

Instead it now just looks like a wasted seven months and also shows that it's misguided to believe NDCs are the solution to the player drain.

Was he ever likely to agree a dual deal? Only one man can answer that but the warnings were made on a gloomy August afternoon at the Liberty Stadium last year after the signing of a fresh Rugby Services Agreement.

On the top table of the Pro Rugby Wales press conference was Cardiff Blues chief executive Richard Holland, in the middle was PRW (then called Regional Rugby Wales) chief executive Mark Davies and on the left was Gareth Davies, who represented Newport Gwent Dragons as their chief executive before heading up to a sodden Ebbw Vale for the friendly with Northampton.

It was made clear that the Welsh Rugby Union would now have to get used to dealing with agents and the other sundries that come with doing deals for talent.

Davies is now in the other camp as chairman of the governing body and while the relationship between the two parties is no longer quite as strained, familiar problems remain.

There is only so much money in the pot and market forces cannot be controlled, as we have seen with the Scott Williams situation even though it appears likely he will stay at the Scarlets.

"The central contract from the union has been withdrawn after some of the regions started upping the ante, as it were," said Davies to the BBC after the Ospreys made a bid in excess of his current deal.

Agents will, rightly, do whatever they can to get the best deal for their client. If that means playing two clubs off against each other then so be it. If that means bringing the WRU into it then so be it.

What is for sure is that the offer on the table from those outside of Wales for Test stars will be bigger than those within the country, be they an NDC or solely from a region, and the so-called ‘Gatland’s Law’ is not a sufficient deterrent to moving overseas.

There is no point looking towards New Zealand or Ireland or Scotland for answers. As the Ospreys' Andrew Hore said in the middle of the spat with the WRU, we need a "Welsh solution to a Welsh problem" and one fears NDCs are not it.