Former Wales international Adrian Hadley has slammed Wales' decision to select Johnny McNicholl for Saturday's win over the Barbarians.
Hadley labelled the decision 'a nonsense' and questioned why head coach Wayne Pivac picked the Scarlets utility back at the expense of homegrown younger players like Hallam Amos, Owen Lane and Ashton Hewitt.
McNicholl only became eligible for Wales at the end of October after serving his three-year residency period with the Scarlets.
Given his form at the Parc y Scarlets under Pivac, few eyebrows were raised when the new Wales head coach included the former Crusader into his starting XV against the Baa-baas on Saturday.
He justified his inclusion with a try in Wales' 43-33 victory.
However dual-code international and former Sale coach Hadley did not hold back in his criticism of McNicholl's call-up.
"I've got nothing against the boy and as a player if you're picked to play for a country then you're never going to turn it down," he told BBC Radio Wales.
"For me, it’s just nonsense.
“You can't just spend three years in a country and suddenly decide you’re Welsh. If you’re not Welsh, you’re not Welsh, it’s as simple as that, and you shouldn’t be selected.
“The other thing is, and no offence against the kid, he is 29. Is he going to be around for the next World Cup?
"He will be 33 and on the bench you had Owen Lane who is 21 and then there is also Hallam Amos, who is 25, as is Ashton Hewitt, as is Steff Evans.
"All of these are young Welsh players who could well have been on the park if that stupid ruling wasn’t in force.”
And on the match itself, Hadley admitted it gave Pivac very few indicators looking ahead to their Six Nations opener with Italy, in Cardiff, on February 1.
"It's great to get off to a winning start but it's difficult to take much out of the game," added the BBC pundit.
"It was like a party atmosphere - a goodbye to Warren Gatland and a hello to Wayne Pivac. It was a very unstructured game.
"We made a lot of mistakes, gave away some sloppy tries. It's a win for Wayne Pivac and the next game against Italy in the Six Nations will be completely different."
