RUGBY/SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP:THE INTERNATIONAL career of Wales backrow forward Andy Powell lies in tatters after he was charged with driving a golf buggy while over the limit and thrown out of the national squad exactly a year after he received a warning about his behaviour following a drunken night out in Cardiff as he and some team-mates celebrated victory over England.

Powell (28), was arrested early on Sunday at a service station off the M4 to the west of Cardiff, hours after Wales had beaten Scotland, having allegedly failed a breath test. He has been bailed to appear before Cardiff magistrates on March 2nd, four days after Wales’ next Six Nations match against France at the Millennium Stadium.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) met Powell yesterday morning and suspended him for behaviour “contrary to the squad’s code of conduct”.

Last year Powell was reprimanded, with three other players, after an investigation into drunken antics following the England victory.

“They have all been warned that their involvement in events will be taken into account in future if they are party to any incidents where misconduct is apparent by any squad member,” the WRU said then.

It is alleged Powell and a friend drove a golf buggy three miles from the hotel where the Welsh squad are based to the service station, where he was arrested at 5.40am.

He was charged with driving a mechanically propelled vehicle while unfit through drink.

“We take matters of player conduct extremely seriously,” said Wales team manager Alan Phillips. “Andy knows he has misbehaved and is apologetic, but he also knows he must take responsibility for his own actions and accept the repercussions.

“This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated in a professional, elite sporting environment.”

Powell’s agent, Mike Burton, said the player had not given up hope of adding to his 14 Wales caps.

“Andy has accepted the disciplinary decision of the WRU. He had been celebrating after Wales’ victory over Scotland in Cardiff. He got back to the hotel and got to bed some time after midnight. A friend came to see him in the morning to drive him home. Andy got up and went down for breakfast where the facilities were not ready, so they said, ‘Why don’t we go down to the motorway services where we can get something there?’

“They walked out of the reception area, saw a golf buggy there and used that to get to the services, where the police asked them how they got there. By the time he talked to the police it was 7am and he was asked to take a breath test.”

He said Powell failed the test, and went on: “Andy is disappointed and embarrassed to find himself in this position. He does not excuse or condone drink-driving in any form and it was a misjudgment. He is sorry and he will face up to it.”

The Cardiff Blue has been playing out of position at blindside flanker, to accommodate Ryan Jones in his preferred position at number eight, and has struggled to adapt.

His place was under scrutiny before the incident, with fellow Blue Sam Warburton making an impression from the bench against Scotland.

Wales coach Warren Gatland must now decide whether to start with Warburton, whose ability to play six or seven makes him useful on the bench, or move Jonathan Thomas to blindside flanker.

Should Gatland take the second option, Bradley Davies, Ian Gough or Luke Charteris will be in contention to fill Thomas’ spot in the secondrow.

No player has been called up to provide backrow cover following Powell’s arrest.

The dilemma now facing Gatland is to decide what Powell’s Wales prospects are beyond the Six Nations with a tour to New Zealand looming this summer.

If nothing else, he is guilty of a major breach of discipline midway through a major tournament.

Blues chief executive Robert Norster supported Wales’ decision to remove Powell: “Following on from the surreal finish to the weekend’s encounter with Scotland, the news of what appears to be a bizarre but serious lack of judgment by one of our players while on national duty is of real concern,” said Norster.

“It seems, albeit from a distance, to have been a prank that has somehow gone dreadfully wrong, with potentially very serious implications.”