Warren Gatland has revealed he first spoke to Taine Plumtree about a call-up three weeks ago as Wales confirmed the new Scarlets back-row had been added to the World Cup training squad.
WalesOnline reported on Sunday that the 23-year-old was set to travel out to Switzerland on Monday for the first of Wales' two overseas training camps, having been added to the group on Saturday.
It has now been confirmed that the former Auckland Blues player met with the squad on Monday before flying to Fiesch from Heathrow.
Speaking about the new call-up, Gatland admitted he'd been on his radar a few weeks ago - with recent injuries cementing his decision to bring him in.
"We’ve called up Taine Plumtree 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 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."
