The list goes on and on. Ioan Lloyd, the 20-year-old fly-half who has been tipped for a big international future, started at Cardiff Blues before he moved to Clifton College in Bristol and was snapped up by the Bristol Bears.

Dafydd Jenkins, a 6ft 7in, 17st 11lb second row, has followed a similar path, the 19-year-old making his debut for Exeter Chiefs against Wasps last weekend.

The WRU have attempted to address this issue by introducing the 60-cap rule, meaning that players with fewer than 60 caps can only be picked for Wales if they are based in the country.

The exception however is that it only comes into force once a player has been named in the senior national squad, and Rees-Zammit for example was tied down with a long-term contract at Gloucester before he made his international debut.

The selection policy was introduced in October 2017 and insiders predict that such fundament policy changes take roughly eight years to be impactful.

It is for the same reasons that the decision to regionalise the Welsh club game appeared to have a positive effect on the fortunes of the Wales team, with the concentration of experienced talent into five and then four sides benefiting former head coach Warren Gatland.

The first side that Gatland picked to face England in 2008 contained 13 players from the Ospreys. Wales won the first of three Grand Slams under Gatland that year. Yet the problem Wales is facing now is that beneath that golden generation, the supply line to the national side has been hampered by regionalisation and time has caught up with them.

Insiders say that regionalisation has hampered the academy pipelines because of a lack of identity with the new organisations a lack of alignment as well as financial pressures.

In the matches played in the two European tournaments this season, 11 defeats were suffered by Cardiff, Scarlets, Dragons and Ospreys.

Analysis of the make-up of the Welsh regions reveal little over 50 per cent of the squad’s playing experience has been with that region, a fall of around 25 per cent in the last decade. In comparison, Leinster’s average is 89 per cent.

The result is that the days when the Wales national side covered over the cracks in the Welsh system appear to be over, at least in the short term.

And yet, amid the gloom, there is still hope. For all the structural challenges, the Welsh nation continues to produce outstanding talent.

There is talk about reducing the regions to two sides along the more traditional ‘West’ and ‘East’ Wales sides, which young players through the ages have an affiliation with through trial matches, with a development region in the north of the country as part of a greater aligned system that would harness the talent production.

The big issue to confront is player ownership, given that the regions (aside from the more complex arrangement with the WRU with the Dragons) are privately-owned businesses, whereas in Ireland the players are controlled by the Union.

Yet even if such fundamental change is not possible, there is hope that despite expectations that the defending Six Nations champions could be in for a rough few weeks, by the time of the World Cup next year, the likes of Lloyd, Jenkins, Taine Basham, Ben Carter, Christ Tshiunza and Rees-Zamit could emerge at the centre of a new golden generation.