Warren Gatland risks losing Test stars to English clubs and abroad as Welsh regions face further budget cuts… with Taine Basham and Jac Morgan among those who could follow George North and Liam Williams out of the door

Wales head coach Warren Gatland is facing the prospect of a further mass exodus of his international stars to England and abroad as the country's regions continue to battle austerity.

Last season – as contractual chaos and financial uncertainty hit Welsh rugby – Gatland saw Will Rowlands, Tomas Francis, Ross Moriarty, Jarrod Evans, Dillon Lewis and others leave their homeland.

With Test centurion George North confirming he has joined Prop Francis at French second division side Provence and Liam Williams moving to Japan, other players are set to follow suit.

Cardiff and Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams has signed for Gallagher Premiership side Gloucester. Cardiff also lose prop Rhys Carre, who returns to Saracens.

Taine Basham, Mason Grady, Johnny Williams, Aaron Wainwright and Rio Dyer – who played for Wales in last year's World Cup – are all considering pulling out of the regional competition.

The four Welsh regions – Dragons, Cardiff, Ospreys and Scarlets – will see their current playing budgets fall from around £5.2 million to £4.5 million for next season.

It means they are struggling to offer their best players competitive new contracts. There is now a realization in the regions that it is impossible to retain their international stars under the current budget system.

Mail Sports understands that a financial increase has been proposed over Christmas.

But that meant the regions each took a loan of around £500,000 from the Welsh Rugby Union to boost their budgets for the 2024/2025 campaign to almost £5 million, rather than the governing body handing out extra money.

That is something the WRU does not want to do, despite the fact that the current tiered contracting model in the regions is considered completely unworkable.

The WRU's loan offer was met with shock and anger from those regions who were unable to accept it as they continue to repay the emergency funding granted to them by the WRU through the Welsh Government to survive the Covid-19 pandemic. Those repayments also incurred significant interest.

The interest rates on the loans to the Welsh regions are much higher than those that England's Gallagher Premiership clubs borrowed from Westminster at the same time.

As a result, money in Wales's national game is tight. But the WRU are looking into building a new gym for the women's side, which could cost more than £1million.

Such a move has been questioned in many quarters as the men's and women's Six Nations campaigns no longer overlap and the WRU already has a state-of-the-art gym at the Vale Resort base, which could be used by both sides without a clash.

Many believe the two teams could share the gym and the money would be better spent elsewhere.

The WRU has also pledged millions to improve technology at its Principality Stadium home.

Basham – the Dragons winger – is of interest to Saracens, Sale and Northampton and is attracted by a possible move to the Premier League. But he would have to give up his Test career if he left his Newport-based employers. Saracens are interested in Basham for a second time after previously failing to lure him to London.

Another Welsh region rivaling the Dragons is also very interested in Basham.

The Dragons would not want to lose the combative forward as he has come through their system, but he was left out of their team for their recent win over the Scarlets after being part of an underperforming side that was hammered by Cardiff.

Only players with 25 or more Test caps can play their club rugby outside Wales and also represent the Gatland national team under WRU rules.

That number fell from 60 last year after Wales players threatened to strike over their Six Nations match against England. Nearly twelve months later, the situation has not improved significantly.

Number 9 Tomos Williams – who was in good form for Cardiff over the festive period – moves to Kingsholm. Cardiff made an offer to keep him, but even a fresh financial boost from their new investment wasn't enough to do that.

The same goes for Carre, who was dropped from Wales' training squad for the 2023 World Cup after failing to meet fitness targets.

That hasn't stopped Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall from bringing him back to the StoneX Stadium for a second time.

Carre has fewer than 25 international caps and will therefore not be able to play for Wales when he returns to London.

Cardiff are set to retain Welsh props Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti and both they and the Ospreys have a number of promising young players coming through.

But there is now widespread recognition in Welsh football that the appeal of the red national shirt is no longer enough to keep players at home.

Many players now feel they are better off playing their club rugby outside Wales.

Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan and Josh Adams are all out of contract at the end of next season and will certainly attract interest from other teams.

Morgan and Lake co-captained Wales at the World Cup but the former will miss the 2024 Six Nations after undergoing knee surgery. Young Cardiff backs Cameron Winnett and Jacob Beetham push for selection for Wales Six Nations after Gatland lost experienced number 15s Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny to moves abroad.

Cardiff should be able to keep Beetham, but as he is eligible to play Test rugby for Scotland, England and Wales, there is interest in him from those rival countries.

Edinburgh has shown a keen interest in 22-year-old Beetham, who was born in Brecon and came through Wales' age group system.