WHILE Kingsley Jones watches this afternoon's England v Wales Six Nations clash he may well wonder what might have been.

Worcester Rugby Club's captain was called last week to ask about possible availability for the Wales squad should their top players have gone on strike.

Contingency plans were being formulated for the Twickenham clash as Wales braced themselves to lose key personnel like Lions trio Scott Quinnell, Rob Howley and Dafydd James.

Players from Wales' so-called Gang of Six clubs -- Cardiff, Llanelli, Newport, Bridgend, Swansea and Pontypridd -- were prepared to boycott the England game.

But proposed industrial action was called off after prolonged talks between the clubs and Welsh Rugby Union representatives resulted in an agreement to cut professional club numbers in Wales from nine to six.

"I was called and I would have played," he said. "I'd love to play for Wales again and I certainly wouldn't have turned down my country. We were joking about it but it could have happened. Richard Smith's also played for Wales before so it would have been interesting."

"We did try to pencil in a provisional team," said Wales' team manager Alan Phillips.

"We had to do that, because it's our job for the WRU. If we had found ourselves having to take another team to Twickenham, then that is what we would have done."

Worcester do not have a fixture today. They get back on to league duty on Saturday when they welcome Bedford Blues to Sixways.