Warren Gatland calls up uncapped 6ft 5 forward to Wales’ World Cup squad
Wales head coach Warren Gatland and uncapped back rower Taine Plumtree.
Uncapped Scarlets-bound back-rower Taine Plumtree has been called up to Warren Gatland’s Wales squad to prepare for the Rugby World Cup.
The 23-year-old is the son of former All Blacks assistant coach, and now Sharks head coach, John Plumtree.
Plumtree met up with the Wales team at Heathrow Airport on Monday to travel to Switzerland for a two-week training camp.
Eligibility
Explaining the decision to call up the former Blues flanker, who was unveiled Scarlets’ newest signing last month, Gatland spoke of the back-rower’s size and revealed that the Swansea-born man could have played for New Zealand or South Africa too.
“We’ve called up Taine Plumtree to the squad to give him an opportunity,” Gatland said.
“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 as well with a South African mum.
“For us, given that 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.
“He’s 23, 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 just know how excited he is to get the opportunity to come in and take that chance with us out in Switzerland.”
Wales squad update
Winger Alex Cuthbert and fly-half Owen Williams have not made the trip to Switzerland due to personal reasons, while Taulupe Faletau is expected to join the group next week as he continues his recovery from a calf muscle injury.
Gatland’s squad head to Turkey later this month for a second overseas camp before two World Cup warm-up games in August against England and a Principality Stadium appointment with South Africa.
Wales’ opening World Cup fixture sees them face Fiji in Bordeaux on September 10.
The official 33-man Rugby World Cup squad will be announced after the warm-up matches.