The one unknown quantity in the Wales squad who is about to be unleashed

He’s the one member of Wales’ World Cup training squad who remains an unknown quantity to many Welsh fans.

But that may be about to change, with Rhys Carre in with a real shot of taking his Test bow against Ireland next week.

People know plenty about the other uncapped player in the group, Owen Lane, who has been a regular for Cardiff Blues when fit and caught the eye with his try-scoring exploits.

But it’s a different story with Carre.

Yes, he’s been in the headlines, but that’s more because of his much-debated move from the Blues to Saracens.

When it comes to his rugby qualities, he will still be a mystery to many Welsh fans, given he has only started three regional games, one of those a friendly against Uruguay and another versus Edinburgh during the Six Nations period.

So what can people expect? Rugby correspondent Simon Thomas is someone who has seen a lot of the young prop and now gives the lowdown on what we are about to see.

First of all, how likely is Carre to feature against Ireland next week?

There has to be a pretty decent chance.

When you look at the loosehead options, Nicky Smith has started the first two warm-up games against England, so you would expect him to be given a breather now.

As for Rob Evans, he’s been working his way back from a shoulder injury and then picked up a bit of a neck problem during the gruelling training camp in Switzerland.

All the indications are he will be fine for Japan, but it’s unclear when he will make his return to action.

That leaves his Scarlets colleague Wyn Jones and Carre as the other men available to wear the No 1 jersey.

Now if Gatland wants to have a look at the uncapped Carre before naming his final 31-man World Cup squad, it has to be in the Principality Stadium clash with the Irish.

So what does he have to offer?

Well, it’s Carre by name and carry by nature.

That’s what marks the 21-year-old Cowbridge product out as bringing something a bit different to the party.

One of the main concerns after the defeat to England at Twickenham was the lack of carrying clout from the Wales pack.

We had no-one who was able to do what the bullocking Billy Vunipola did for the home team, consistently crossing the gain-line.

The Welsh forward performance was much improved in the Cardiff re-match, in terms of physical intensity and aggression, lineout accuracy and the work at the breakdown, both in clearing out and slowing down opposition ball.

But there still weren’t that many individual ball-carrying bursts of note, with it being more a case of collective pick-and-gos and sustained pressure.

That’s where a Carre cameo could come in handy as he does have the ability to make big dents and big yards.

At 6ft 3ins and 20st 10lbs, he’s a sizeable specimen, but he can also get up a good head of steam and when he’s on the charge, he’s not an easy man to stop.

It’s something I’ve seen him do for Wales U20s, the Blues Premiership Select and A teams, the Cardiff club side and the full-blown Blues.

It’s safe to say it can’t be much fun for a defender standing in his path, while he also has good hands to add a further dimension to his attacking threat.

Now he has the chance to show if he can do it at Test level.

How highly is he rated?

Well, when the European champions come knocking, you must have something about you.

It was back in early April I revealed that Carre had signed for English giants Saracens. You can read about that controversial move here.

It was a story that really struck a chord with people, as much as anything because many Welsh fans weren’t particularly aware of him and hadn’t seen him play.

But Sarries had.

They had been monitoring him for much of last season and they liked what they saw.

The deliberations over Project Reset meant the Blues had to put offering him a new contract on hold and, seeing their chance, Saracens pounced.

In they came with an offer and Carre said yes.

As he explained a few weeks later, who wouldn’t have their heads turned by a team like that?

By the time the Blues were able to come in with a substantially bigger counter-offer, it was too late.

He had made his mind up and he was off, much to the disappointment of the Arms Park outfit who had big plans and high hopes for him.

Hang on, if he turned down a regional offer to join an English club, how can he play for Wales?

It’s a question many asked at the time, querying the apparent inconsistency of the WRU selection policy.

Why was Carre still eligible while fellow Anglo exiles Alex Cuthbert and Rhys Priestland weren’t?

And don’t even get people started on the contrast with Rhys Webb’s situation.

The facts of the matter are Carre remains available to Wales because the 60-cap rule doesn’t apply to uncapped players who haven’t previously been part of the national squad. More on that here.

Personally, I think it’s a loophole that needs to be closed, otherwise other young players in his situation will be similarly targeted.

In my opinion, anyone who moves outside of Wales after rejecting a regional contract should be ruled ineligible and hopefully that will become the case when the policy is next reviewed.

But we are where we are and Warren Gatland was free to select Carre in his World Cup training squad. Clearly, he’s someone else who rates him.

As a final twist, it emerged that the talented loosehead is also eligible for England through a family link.

So all the more reason to get him on board with Wales and get him capped.

Is he ready for that?

Well, there’s only one way to find out.

Obviously, he’s still pretty raw, having made just 19 appearances for the Blues and 16 of those off the bench.

A lot of his rugby has come at Premiership level, with 26 outings for Cardiff since his try-scoring debut against Llandovery in April 2016.

It's fair to say his scrummaging is a work in progress, as you would probably expect of a young prop finding his way in the game.

And the physical demands of the Wales camp will have been an eye-opening experience for him and a whole new ball game in terms of challenging his fitness levels, with a couple of pictures from Fiesch in Switzerland showing him down on his haunches or sporting a pained expression.

But, from an early age, he’s been marked out as someone of real potential and there’s a lot of development work gone into him.

Players of his size don’t grow on trees in Wales and, in an age where defences are so hard to break down, he offers that priceless ability to breach them with his bulk and power.

So, let’s see what the kid has to offer on the big stage.