Wales coach Warren Gatland has included new Scarlets signing Taine Plumtree in his World Cup training squad.
The back row has arrived from New Zealand where he was playing Super Rugby for Auckland-based Blues and provincial rugby for Wellington.
Born in Swansea, the 23-year-old is the son of ex-Swansea head coach and All Blacks assistant John Plumtree.
Gatland took his squad to Switzerland on Monday for two weeks with Plumtree joining them.
“We’ve called up Taine to the squad to give him an opportunity,” said Gatland.
“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 also eligible for South Africa as well with a South African mum.
“For us, 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 6ft 5in 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.”
The shock call-up for Plumtree comes just a week after he signed to join Scarlets next season.
He represented New Zealand at the 2019 World Rugby U20 Championship, where he played against Wales, but has not been capped at senior level.
He went on to make his Super Rugby debut for the Blues in 2021 and has continued to impress for Wellington, including a hat-trick of tries against Northland.
The flanker, who can play across the back row, was not named in Gatland’s original 54-man squad in May.
However, Plumtree will provide an extra option for this autumn’s World Cup, with Justin Tipuric and Josh Navidi having retired from international rugby and Ross Moriarty and Josh Macleod also both unavailable.
Gatland’s squad already includes Taine Basham, Dan Lydiate, Jac Morgan, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright, Taulupe Faletau and Christ Tshiunza.
There are 48 players in the extended training group with Faletau expected to join the squad for the second week in the Alps as he recovers from a calf injury, while wing Alex Cuthbert and fly-half Owen Williams are missing for personal reasons.
Wales will also travel to Turkey later this month before warm-up games against England and South Africa.
Gatland’s side open their World Cup campaign against Fiji on 10 September.
