Wales head coach Steve Tandy insisted he would pick his strongest available team after naming a record nine players based outside the country for their Nations Championship clash with Japan.
English Prem players Dewi Lake, Jac Morgan, Max Llewellyn, Louis Rees-Zammit, Tomos Williams, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Dafydd Jenkins and Aaron Wainwright are all in the starting XV for Saturday's match in Cardiff, with three more Prem players on the bench.
It marks a significant shift since the 60-cap rule was lowered to 25 caps in February 2023 for players to remain eligible to play for Wales.
Only six England-based players were in the 33-strong Wales squad at the 2023 World Cup in France.
"Ultimately it doesn't matter where they play, it'll be the best players selected," Tandy said on Thursday.
"It shows that our players are in demand and that other leagues value them."
He added: "We can either complain about having 20 players playing overseas, or we can recognise the benefits. There are always positives, although there are also things we potentially lose."
Tandy begins his second full season in charge against Japan, one of the three teams Wales have beaten during his 12-month tenure. Italy and Fiji are the others.
Japan are the first Nations Championship visitors to Cardiff this month, with New Zealand and Australia to follow in the northern hemisphere leg of the competition.
In their July fixtures in the championship Wales beat Fiji before losing to Argentina and South Africa.
Tandy has lost nine of his 12 games at the helm but sees positives after an improvement in performances.
"It's been a brilliant 12 months and the biggest difference has been having continuity within the coaching group," he said.
"The standard of training has gone up another level, and that's a result of consistency in coaching and consistency around the playing group."