Warren Gatland calls up Scarlets new boy Taine Plumtree to World Cup squad just a week after move

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has called up rookie Taine Plumtree to his World Cup squad just a week after the flanker confirmed his move north from New Zealand.

Plumtree, 23, was formerly with Kiwi Super Rugby side Blues in Auckland and played for the All Blacks at Under-20 level, but has just confirmed a transfer to the Llanelli-based Scarlets.

The son of former All Blacks assistant coach John, Plumtree was born in Swansea when his father was working in Wales so is eligible to play for Gatland’s side.

Gatland has wasted no time in opting to have a look at Plumtree who is a powerful forward who can play across the back-row.

There is now a very real chance Plumtree could make Wales’ final 33-man World Cup party.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland was impressed by Plumtree’s size when picking him for the squad

He is part of the Welsh squad which arrived in Switzerland for a gruelling training camp on Monday.

Gatland said: ‘We’ve called up Taine to the squad to give him an opportunity. I spoke to Taine about three weeks ago about the possibility.

‘He was in discussions with the Scarlets about signing for them. He seemed pretty excited.

‘He’s born in Swansea, has come through the New Zealand system, and is also eligible for South Africa.

‘Given we’ve had Josh Macleod pull out of the squad due to injury, some players unavailable, and Taulupe Faletau has picked up a bit of an injury, we thought it was a great opportunity for Taine to come in. He’s a six foot five back-row forward. We don’t have a lot of those here in Wales.

‘Whether he makes the World Cup squad or not, he’s definitely a player we want to keep in mind for the future. Potentially that’s later down the track with the Six Nations, but he gets a chance to come in and we know how excited he is to get the opportunity with us out in Switzerland.’

Wales’ players face a tough two-week block of training in Switzerland. Another training camp in Turkey will run from July 23 to July 31.

Wales play England home and away in August and will also welcome South Africa to Cardiff before naming their final World Cup party.