Rhys Carre has been released from Wales' extended Rugby World Cup training squad for what the Welsh Rugby Union describe as failing to meet individual performance targets.
The WRU say the Cardiff prop, 25, has failed to meet the expectations required of him by the Wales coaching team, and has consequently lost his place in the squad.
A Welsh Rugby Union statement read: "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."
With Carre out of the equation, Gatland has Ospreys pair Nicky Smith and Gareth Thomas, uncapped Cardiff prop Corey Domachowski and Scarlets youngster Kemsley Mathias as options.
Carre was previously omitted from former Wales head coach Wayne Pivac's squad for the 2022 autumn internationals.
Pivac said at the time: "Rhys went to South Africa and he was given a brief coming back as to what we expected from him in terms of his general conditioning, getting himself in the right shape to play international rugby and he's fallen short of that. So he's got a lot of hard work to do with his club. He's having some big moments in games, which is clear for everyone to see, but at Test level it's about 60 or 20 minutes of intense rugby and he hasn't quite reached the level of conditioning required to survive in our camps."
Gatland had named an extended 54-man World Cup training squad, to be trimmed before summer camps in Switzerland and Turkey before three World Cup warm-ups and then the final squad selection for the global tournament in France this autumn. However, with the Test retirements of Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb, now coupled with Carre's release, the squad now stands at 50 players.
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