Why didn’t someone tell Webb he’d lose Wales slot?

SOMETHING about the Rhys Webb affair doesn’t add up. The player claims he knew nothing of the new 60cap rule when he signed for Toulon in return for £1.7m over three seasons.

“I made my mind up on the basis that the policy (on Welsh selection) was the wildcard system,’’ he told BBC Wales. “No-one had mentioned that it was going to change.’’

His agent, former Wales second row Derwyn Jones, has claimed he knew nothing about it until head coach Warren Gatland “mentioned that a new rule may be coming in”.

That, according to Jones, was on October 5 a few days before The

Rugby Paper broke the story. Talks between the WRU and the four regions over the new policy to replace the discredited old one had been going on for weeks.

Jones must surely have known something was afoot which would affect international selection for players outside Wales. Negotiations with Toulon had been finalised on September 25 and a ‘heartbroken’ Webb informed the Ospreys seven days later.

The immediate impression was of a player who had recovered from one serious injury and decided, perfectly sensibly, to put financial security ahead of international ambition. Gatland reinforced that line of thinking.

“I spoke to Rhys and he said given his age and his injury history, he’d made a decision to go there (Toulon),’’ Gatland said. “He felt it would be life-changing in terms for himself and his family.’’

All that makes sense but then Webb contradicts it all, calling it ‘a joke’ and ‘a disgrace.’ He is clearly upset that he was not warned about any change in the national selection policy. Why not…?