Wales interested in South African Hanno Dirksen

The 23-year-old, who has not represented his native Springboks at any level, has been living in Wales for five years and qualifies to play for the country through residency.

But there are concerns about Dirksen's fitness as the flyer is unable to train at full capacity for his region in the RaboDirect PRO12 due to a knee problem for which he underwent surgery last year.

He has not been included in Gatland's probables vs possible trial match on May 30 ahead of this summer's tour of South Africa, but Howley insists that they are keen to bring him in.

"We've had a conversation about Hanno Dirksen," Howley revealed to the South Wales Evening Post.

"I've said to [Ospreys coach] Steve Tandy we are going to have to sit down and talk about trying to get the best out of Hanno for him to play international rugby.

"What the solution is I'm not too sure. It's very difficult. His knee problem has been an issue for 18 months at least. It is a shame, because Hanno is a quality player but he's just playing game to game.

"Unfortunately then your conditioning drops off a level. We just cannot man-manage a player on tour."

Wales will name their squad for the two-test tour of South Africa following the probables vs possible trial match on May 30.