WALES have dropped Rhys Carre from their World Cup training squad after saying the prop had 'failed to hit performance targets'.
The 25-year-old was named in Warren Gatland's initial group for France 2023 along with fellow looseheads Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Corey Domachowski and Kemsley Mathias, with Lions front rower Wyn Jones a high-profile absentee.
After Carre featured four times off the bench in the Six Nations to take his tally of caps to 20, the strong-running Cardiff man looked good to make the cut but he has already been given the axe.
"Following ongoing discussions between the player and the Wales coaching team, Carre has failed to meet individual performance targets set at the end of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations,” read a Welsh Rugby Union statement.
Carre made his international debut in the build-up to the last World Cup and featured five times as a replacement in Japan.
He was recalled by Gatland earlier this year after being dropped by previous boss Wayne Pivac for fitness reasons last autumn.
"Rhys went to South Africa and he was given a brief coming back to what we expected from him in terms of general conditioning and getting himself in the right shape to play international rugby," said Pivac.
"He's fallen short of that so he has got a lot of hard work to do with his club."
Carre enjoyed an impressive campaign at the Arms Park but becomes the latest player to leave Gatland’s squad after the international retirement of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb.
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