Wales pull another one from nowhere

WHEN it comes to finding players from anywhere and nowhere for World Cups, Wales can be relied upon to do so with almost unfailing consistency.

- PETER JACKSON

Who else, for example, could respond to recurring selection crises in their pack by throwing one unknown teenager into a quarter-final against England and another into the back row for a triumphant third place decider against Australia?

In the Northern Hemisphere summer of 1987, a pair of likely lads, David Young and Richard Webster had crossed the Equator for an off-season of club rugby in Canberra and a chance to see a bit of the first World Cup.

Now, in preparation for the 10th global jamboree this autumn, Wales have maintained their quadrennial tradition of finding the most left of left fields, digging it up and unearthing exactly what they have been looking for.

Taine Plumtree would appear to be the perfect fit, a specialist blindside flanker with the attributes (6ft 5in, 17 stone) to provide a muscular physical presence in an area where Wales have been sorely deficient. And, best of all, they could ship their new top-of-the-range bulldozer halfway across the world without having to hire Ancestry Anonymous.

A hefty chip off an old block, Plumtree’s birthplace ends all argument: Swansea, where his father, John, was then in charge of The Whites at the outset of a coaching career which took him to the All Blacks’ inner sanctum until Ireland’s series victory cost him his job.