NO wonder Gwent Drag-ons are not pursuing former Wales captain Colin Charvis.

Just how often will the leading Welsh players be available to their regions in the new season? Not very often is the answer.

First of all there is the daft situation of four, yes four, internationals in August arranged as pre-World Cup warm-up games.

Squad members are banned from appearing for their regions in September because of the risk of injury and wanting to keep players in camp during the build-up to the World Cup.

Then the squad departs for Australia and the World Cup, not to return until mid-November assuming Wales make it through their group to the quarter-finals.

Then there will be a three-week period of rest, so that it will be December before the top players become available.

That's in time for the Heineken Cup which takes up two weekends of December and all four in January.

After that will be it will be two months of the Six Nations Championship, Welsh squad members ruled out again.

So the first time a leading player will be available for a run of Celtic League games is next April!

We all know why as many as four internationals have been arranged for August -- it's not so much World Cup warm-up games as money.

Because of the World Cup there are no autumn games, losing considerable revenue, so they have to be replaced by something. And that means matches in August.

Even then Wales coach Steve Hansen wasn't keen on the games - against Ireland in Dublin on August 16, England in Cardiff on the 23rd, Romania in Wrexham on the 27th and Scotland in Cardiff on the 30th - being given full status.

He wants to rotate his squad for these games rather than field his top side every time, and believes using a squad system would rule out games being accorded full international status.

But that is no good at all to David Moffett and the cash-strapped WRU who desperately need the money from full internationals.

So in he stepped and pretty quickly announced that all four games would, in fact, be full games and caps would be awarded as a result.

As a result, he hopes the crowds will be more and so will the money generated.

The WRU need every penny they can get despite recent sponsorship and commercial announcements.

So never mind whether the players need them, never mind whether the public has any appetite for them. August or not, public apathy or not, holidays or not, there will be four internationals next month.

The suggestion that just two games in September would be a far better idea for players and public has got nothing to do with it. Money talks.

And the fact that so many leading players will not be playing domestic rugby for so much of the season is sure to help Gwent Dragons.

They've been written off by many because of so few so-called name players and with so many new signings and with Cardiff and Llanelli much more settled because of the retention of their club status in the 'new' set-up.

But with some of the more fancied teams losing so many players to international commitments, Gwent could steal a march.

They are not likely to have many players in the World Cup squad - newcomer Michael Owen is the only certainty, apart from Rod Snow who will be with Canada - so a few early results could get them off on the right foot.

Gwent Dragons' launch date is next Monday. It's the dawn of a new era, but there is a fair amount of water to pass under the bridge yet like the amount of rent for the use of Rodney Parade, have still to be settled.