{"id":249383,"date":"2025-10-29T20:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T20:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/249383\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T20:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T20:17:08","slug":"louis-rees-zammit-eager-for-exciting-weird-wales-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/249383\/","title":{"rendered":"Louis Rees-Zammit eager for exciting, ‘weird’ Wales return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louis Rees-Zammit<\/a> has admitted it felt strange to be back training with Wales at the Principality Stadium as he prepares for his return to international rugby.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old could make his first appearance for Wales for two years next month after switching to American football.<\/p>\n

Rees-Zammit had spells with the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> and the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>, although he did not play a competitive game in the NFL before signing for Bristol in August.<\/p>\n

“It feels amazing to be back in rugby. I went out there and tried it out but I am really happy to be back,” Rees-Zammit said.<\/p>\n

“It is great to see all the boys again and there is a new coaching staff, which is great. All the boys are loving it and we are ready to rip in.<\/p>\n

Louis Rees-Zammit signed with Bristol in August.\u00a0James Manning\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“This is the first time I have been on this field for 18 months and it feels weird. It is great to see so many fans support us because it means so much to us.”<\/p>\n

Rees-Zammit was with the national squad at a Principality Stadium open training session on Wednesday, ahead of upcoming Autumn Nations Series internationals against Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.<\/p>\n

He trained away from the main group as he recovers from a toe injury sustained playing for Bristol earlier this month but is optimistic of being fit to take on the Pumas in the first match on Nov. 9.<\/p>\n

“My foot is feeling really good,” Rees-Zammit said. “I have just been running the past couple of days and trying to get it ready for next week but it is looking positive.”<\/p>\n

Rees-Zammit has brought the “confidence and X factor” Wales need, according to former Gloucester team-mate Freddie Thomas.<\/p>\n

“I was in the Gloucester Academy with him, so it’s always nice to have an old friend back in the group,” Thomas said.<\/p>\n

“He’s definitely bigger, a lot of weight in terms of muscle, but still has his speed so I think you’ll be able to see that in the contact area, that he’s more powerful.<\/p>\n

“With all the NFL stuff catching those high balls, you’ve got to think he’s got better at that as well, because obviously that’s what you need to do as a wide receiver in the NFL.<\/p>\n

“I haven’t seen him train yet but I’m sure he probably is faster. That’s a dangerous proposition for us, so hopefully we can use that.<\/p>\n

“He’s an unbelievable player and definitely not shy. He has that confidence and X factor we need because there were times last year where it was probably a quiet group, with not many boys prepared to speak up in meetings and call each other out.”<\/p>\n

– England’s George Ford to start at fly-half against Australia<\/a>
– Louis Rees-Zammit returns for autumn rugby Tests<\/a>
– England-Wallabies Test is a farce of World Rugby international windows<\/a><\/p>\n

Gloucester-born Thomas made his Wales debut against South Africa last autumn after being capped by England at under-18 and under-20 level.<\/p>\n

He was part of the team that ended Wales’ losing streak in Japan in the summer — after 18 matches and 644 days — admitting the players were in a “dark spot.”<\/p>\n

“The weight of the pressure was building, so it was nice to just kind of clean that slate and put it behind us,” Thomas, who can operate as a lock forward or as a six in the back-row said.<\/p>\n

“I can only go on last year but compared to that, the training has been really positive. I feel there’s a real energy around the group, the quality has been better.<\/p>\n

“It feels completely different to last year, like a full stop to our last era and really moving forward to keep building as a team.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louis Rees-Zammit has admitted it felt strange to be back training with Wales at the Principality Stadium as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-249383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}