Louis Rees-Zammit made his eagerly-awaited return to rugby union on Saturday by coming off the bench to make his Bristol Bears debut against Sale Sharks.

Pat Lam’s side lost the Premiership Rugby Cup opener 24-15 at the Salford Community Stadium, but Rees-Zammit’s Bristol career is up and running.

Planet Rugby was there to assess the Wales star’s 30-minute cameo off the bench ahead of the new Premiership season.

Background

Rees-Zammit signed for the Bears on 14 August, returning to rugby union after spending 18 months in the NFL.

The 24-year-old left rugby union in January 2024 to pursue a career in American football and was on the training squads of the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars, but did not play in a regular-season game.

Rees-Zammit, capped 32 times by Wales, spent six years at Bristol’s local rivals Gloucester before being released from his contract to join the NFL’s International Player Pathway.

Until yesterday, he had not played rugby since a European Challenge Cup match on 13 January 2024.

He has been training with the Bristol squad for the past four weeks, including on a team trip to Portugal, after signing a one-year contract.

Lam recently said getting him back to match fitness remains the biggest challenge before the Prem Rugby opener at home to Leicester on 28 September.

Encouraging second-half cameo

The Welsh speedster replaced Josh Carrington at full-back in the 50th minute against Sale and was soon in the thick of things.

He looked comfortable in bringing the ball out from the back and was confident with his footwork, positional sense and handling.

Not that everything went his way, of course. Far from it, in fact.

Bristol conceded three tries after Rees-Zammit was introduced – including a try moments after he came on – but none were his fault.

The Welshman made at least three forays out of the defence in attempts to orchestrate attacks which came to nothing.

Conditions were not ideal, but Rees-Zammit looked in fine shape physically.

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He has been training with his new team-mates for the last month and this was the first tentative step towards becoming a key figure for the Bears.

Praise from his director of rugby

Bears boss Lam took plenty of positives from Bristol’s performance and said Rees-Zammit would draw huge confidence from his first appearance in a Bristol jersey.

Lam said: “It was a positive that Louis got out there and got some game-time.

“You can see he tried to have a go a couple of times and he’s a threat.

“By the time he came on, unfortunately the rain was coming down but you could see how dangerous he is.

“That’s the first of some big steps he’s going to make going forward.

“He’s happy, I’m happy, and we’ll move through to the next stage but that was a big confidence builder for him, just to get back in playing rugby union.”

What next for Rees-Zammit?

Bristol now face another Premiership Rugby Cup game away Rees-Zammit’s former club Gloucester on Friday.

Then comes the start of their Prem Rugby campaign at home to Leicester at the end of this month.

Lam confirmed that Rees-Zammit is a certainty to feature again at Kingsholm this week, adding: “Against Gloucester he’ll get a good chance to take the next step and keep improving.

“It’s a big journey for him and he’ll be involved at Kingsholm.

“Like I said, he showed his intent to get involved today, which is good, and I think that’s a massive confidence builder for him.”

Rees-Zammit has settled quickly in the Bristol squad and was more than happy to pose for numerous selfies with fans after his debut in Salford.

Already a popular member of the Bears’ squad, Lam revealed: “Straight away, the boys took him in and he knows a few of them already.

“With our pre-season trips to Guernsey and then Portugal on camps, that always helps.”

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