Jarrod Evans is set to leave Cardiff and sign for English giants Harlequins, casting doubt on his Wales career
The talented playmaker is out of contract at the end of the season and WalesOnline understands Harlequins expect the 26-year-old to sign for them on Thursday.
With wages set to be aggressively pushed down in Wales next season and the regions eventually operating on budgets of £4.5million, many players are considering their futures.
Under the current payment model the Welsh Rugby Union pay for 80% of a Wales National Squad 38 (NS38) player's salary with the region picking up the remaining 20%.
Moving forward, the regions will have to honour the contracts of the NS38 players without the same money to pay them, meaning there's very little left to contract others.
Cardiff were unable to offer the multi-skilled outside-half a competitive contract, and he has instead opted to move over the bridge where he will compete with England superstar Marcus Smith for the Harlequins number 10 shirt.
Even though the controversial 60 cap law has dropped to 25, Evans could well be giving up his Wales career, at least temporarily, as he is stuck on eight caps. There have been suggestions a regional appearances clause, which would allow players who have played a substantial number of regional games to remain eligible even if they don't have 25 Test caps, could become part of the new rule, but nothing has been decided yet.
Evans was a target for the Dragons but he has instead opted for a move to London.
Evans won't be alone in leaving Wales with Dragons RFC loose-forward Ross Moriarty on the verge of signing for Bayonne, while Dillon Lewis, and Nicky Smith are likely to move across the bridge.
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