Wales captain Colin Charvis has signed a two-year contract with English Premiership side Newcastle Falcons. The 31-year-old back row forward joins from French club Tarbes, where he has played for the past seven months, and becomes the first ever Welsh international to play for Newcastle.

Back-row Charvis who has won 68 caps for Wales is set to add to that tally as part of the current Wales squad that are due to play three Tests (Argentina June 12th and 19th and South Africa June 26th).

He moves to the north west club having taken a swipe at the Welsh regional clubs when he said, " I give credit to Gwent Dragons because they were the only team that showd an interest in me as an international player."

"The other three regions expressed that they'd like me to go and play for them but only if I gave up playing with Wales."

Not surprisingly, that accusation was swiftly refuted by Llanelli Scarlets, Neath-SWansea Ospreys and Cardiff Blues.

Stuart Gallacher the Scarlets Chief Executive said, "I can totally refute that. We most certainly didn't ask him to give up playing for Wales.

"At no time did we say to Colin or his agent that we would sign him on the condition that he gave up international rugby.

"Although we had interest in Colin, we have a number of international players in our back row and that was one of the major reasons why we didn't pursue it."

Ospreys Managing director Mike Cuddy said, "I am just flabbergasted by these comments from Colin. It's bizarre.

"I haven't spoken to him in the last 12 months and neither have I had any discussions with his agent. Perhaps he is a little bit confused."

Cardiff Blues coach Dai Young seemed equally confused by the Charvis allegation, "I have huge respect for Colin as a player and I think he deserves his Wales place and I know he will do a good job with Newcastle.

"But he was never somebody that I felt would fit into our plans. And that had nothing to do with him being an international."

Charvis moved to Tarbes last season after finding himself surplus to requirements when the re-structuring of the Welsh game took place, basically finding himself rejected by all five Welsh regions.

However he maintained his form and was one of the most impressive Welsh players the 2003 Rugby World Cup and 2004 Six Nations.