Some will be tempted to style him as the newest sleek model to roll off the production line at Max Boyce’s Welsh fly-half factory.
But Jarrod Evans is different from plenty who have gone before him of late in the hallowed Wales No. 10 jersey.
For Cardiff Blues he is a firecracker of a player, an individual who keeps defences guessing with his speed of thought and deed. He has a step, a jink, a swerve and a shimmy in his armoury, allied to smooth distribution, speed over 20 metres and a lovely short kicking game.
When he faced Glasgow at the Arms Park last season, those watching from the stands could have been forgiven for half-expecting him to disappear in a puff of smoke at one stage, so many tricks was he attempting.
But will he dare bring such qualities to the international arena?
Or will the often stultifying confines of Test rugby sap the joy from his game?
Former Wales coach Nigel Davies is one who is looking forward to discovering the answers to those questions when Evans lines up for his first Test start , against Ireland in Cardiff on Saturday, with Rhys Patchell expected to come on for the final 40 minutes.
“It is going to be very interesting to see how Jarrod goes,” said Davies, who coached Wales with Gareth Jenkins at the 2007 World Cup and also led them in a one-off game against South Africa later in the year.
“He is a lively player who is willing to have a go.
“He has been encouraged to do so by Cardiff Blues because that is how they play their rugby.
“Maybe he will operate the same way for Wales.
“But I think he could be a bit of a conundrum for them because he doesn’t seem a natural fit with how they are going.
“Essentially, they play a low-risk game.
“But Jarrod is a player who’s a bit different. It will be interesting to see what happens.”
Wales returned to winning ways by defeating England a week last Saturday in a match that wasn’t especially easy on the eye.
But it was an important result for Warren Gatland’s team after their 33-19 loss to the same opponents six days earlier.
Davies picked out Dan Biggar for praise and said Wales would be going to the World Cup as an exceptionally difficult team to beat.
“I thought Biggar played really well in a hard-working team performance,” he said of the 13-6 triumph.
“There were elements of the game that were good.
“The set-piece was a lot better, the defence was a heck of a lot better, so they deserve a lot of credit for that.
“There wasn’t a lot created in attack and it is hard to see that changing at the World Cup.
“Wales do have the ability to score tries given half a chance in broken play.
“But they look more comfortable without the ball and their defence means they will always be a hard side to break down. That will serve them well at the World Cup.
“There seems to be a culture there about not making mistakes.
“That isn’t a criticism. There is a lot to be said for that in all walks of life.
“That’s how Warren Gatland coaches his team. He picks good players he’s comfortable with, who can do a job, and they play in a certain way.
“They defend well with the ball, do certain things really well and it has brought them success.”
Davies himself is a long-time advocate of attacking rugby, learning his trade under Gareth Jenkins as a player and playing in the swaggering Llanelli side that swept all before them in 1992-93.
“The modern game doesn’t really lend itself to some of the flowing stuff of old,” he said.
“It’s more about making the most of the mistakes that the opposition make and applying pressure.
“That’s very much the way the game has gone.
“Even when you break down what New Zealand do, they are not doing anything fantastic.
“They play with a good structure and have some very good players who do some very good things.
“That’s the focus now: to make sure you develop good skill-sets and pick the best players and be very clear what you are going to do without the ball, where you want to play the game; and go from there.
“Wales have developed their system over a long time and I think they will do well at the World Cup.
“The players know what’s expected of them and they showed during the last Six Nations that when they build some momentum they can be hard to stop.”
