Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter says he doesn't expect Joe Hawkins' move to the English Premiership club to affect his eligibility to play for Wales.
It was announced this week that the five-cap Wales centre will leave the Ospreys at the end of the season to head to Sandy Park, prompting questions over whether he would be captured by the Welsh Rugby Union's 25-cap rule. On Tuesday, Professional Rugby Board chair Malcolm Wall said he expected the 20-year-old to be ineligible for this year's World Cup in France.
That would certainly be a blow for Warren Gatland, the Wales boss having started the young centre in four of the five Six Nations matches this year.
However, Wall admitted he wasn't across the contract situation, with the key detail being when any contract was signed. Were a deal agreed before Hawkins had been first capped against Australia on November 26 last year, then he wouldn't be captured by the 25-cap rule.
While his new club boss wouldn't give away any specifics, he suggested the former Wales U20s captain should be fine to continue pulling on the red jersey moving forward.
When asked during a press conference if he had spoken to Hawkins about his international future, Baxter said: "I will be honest with you, no not really. I can't give you confidential information on a player's signed agreement and contract.
"I'm just not allowed to. I'd be breaking all sorts of rules and clauses. We've not talked about it because we've not seen it as an issue.
"All this came about before any eligibility rules came about. The WRU have asked me the same question. I said to them I can only really send them paperwork with the player's permission, but he has got it all.
"So as far as I know, the WRU will sort that out with the player and the player's agent. It's for them to provide all the information, not for me. I don't see it being a problem because of the timing of when we got everything signed. That's all I can say on that."
Baxter was then asked if he expected Hawkins to feature at this year's World Cup, which he currently seems likely to head into as a starter.
"Yes, if selected as an eligible Wales player," he replied. "We haven't signed him on the expectation that he won't play for Wales, if that's what you're asking me. I expect him to play for Wales."
As of yet, no clear information on whether Hawkins will be captured by the 25-cap rule has been forthcoming. The waters are muddied significantly by Baxter's forthright denial of any interest in Hawkins when rumours first emerged in February, stating there was "no truth in it". Understandably, such a U-turn pours doubt on when a deal was signed off for Hawkins. But Baxter claims he was asked by the player to play down the rumours.
"Again, I can't tell you any dates because that's the confidentiality part of the contract," he added. "I've done everything I'm allowed to do.
"The WRU now have to deal with the player. The player now has to release the documents to the WRU. That's no different to any other player. It's the same if England wanted to know a contract date.
"I had to dampen down all the rumours basically because I was asked by the player not to make any announcement that he'd signed for us. I was in a catch-22.
"He was a young guy who is ambitious, wanted to play for Wales and didn't want any drama around his selection. We didn't make any announcement and allowed that course to run.
"I was put in a difficult scenario when a load of rumours broke out. I don't know where they came from. They obviously put me in a situation where I had no option but to deny what was going on because I'd promised."
Hawkins had been on Exeter's radar for a considerable time, with Baxter having tracked his progress alongside a number of Exeter's current Welsh contingent.
"When did he first appear on our radar? Probably three years ago, maybe longer," said Baxter. "Obviously with Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza, we were watching those guys when they were 17 and maybe younger.
"We started watching Daf playing U20s and that's where we first saw Joe Hawkins. I watched quite a few U20s games that he captained. I think Oli Burrows and Dan John were also playing.
"I was watching a lot of that rugby. Since then, we've been tracking him. Those other guys, they were heading towards the university route and that process worked for us.
"If that had been the route that Joe had started off at when we first started watching him, we may well have tried to get contracts in place that long ago. As it is, the way the process has gone for both of us, it's happened more in the last few months as we've been aware the squad needs a revamp so it's actually been a longer process than people think."
Regardless of whether he can play for Wales again or not, Baxter will certainly be pleased with a quality addition to his squad as he aims to rebuild ahead of a host of big-name departures.
And it was one of Hawkins' Wales team-mates who has been banging the drum loudest for Exeter to make the move.
"We've had Dafydd here for a couple of years now," he said. "Dafydd has walked past every three or four weeks and said 'have you not signed Joe Hawkins yet?'
"He's been doing that for two years. He's been a presence in and around the place for a while. We haven't been able to discuss much about it because the scenario in Wales with contracts. It put a lot of the Welsh players in an awkward situation to keep things under cover.
"It's been an ongoing process. I'm really pleased to see how he's developed. The nice thing is, at the age he is, we expect him to develop for a long time. I would like to think he's a player who will be here for a long time.
"I'm not looking at him thinking he'll be okay for two years. We want him to play for us, keep improving and hopefully become a core player in a group that can stay together for a long time and achieve some success together."
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