Steve Tandy was unveiled as the new Wales coach on Thursday.\u00a0Ben Birchall\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n
New Wales boss Steve Tandy said he screamed in shock and told his daughter to pass him her phone after she read Louis Rees-Zammit was returning to rugby union.<\/p>\n
Rees-Zammit has spent the last 18 months in the NFL after announcing in January 2024 that he would retire from rugby in order to pursue his American Football dream.<\/p>\n
The 32-times capped Wales wing signed an active roster deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 2025 season after being part of their practice squad in 2024 — but Tandy now looks set to have the 24-year-old flier at his disposal after he announced his rugby return<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n “My oldest daughter told me, that was a bit worrying,” Tandy said at his first news conference as Wales head coach.<\/p>\n “She said ‘Zammit’s coming home!’ And I was like ‘Aaaaaargh. Give me the phone!’ That was how I found out.<\/p>\n “As a coach, you daydream. Coming back, you’re obviously looking at what you’ve got. And then you look at what you could have.<\/p>\n “It’s obviously a great boost for him, the game and the fans. It’s great.”<\/p>\n Tandy, the first Welshman to coach the national team for 18 years, starts his role on Sept. 1.<\/p>\n Wales play Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa in Cardiff in the autumn — and Rees-Zammit could now be involved.<\/p>\n “You can kid yourself that was my impact,” Tandy said of Rees-Zammit’s return. “I think you wouldn’t rule anything out.<\/p>\n “Zammo brings a big effect and excitement by coming back. I think it’s great for the game.<\/p>\n “He’s gone away to experience something new, which is class. I’m sure he will be in outstanding physical condition.<\/p>\n “The more players we have available to represent our country the better. That’s exciting and makes our jobs easier.<\/p>\n “It will also make our calls on selection a lot more challenging in terms of selection as we’ve already got some very good back three players.”<\/p>\n – Wales’ Steve Tandy: No ‘magic wand’ to fix country’s rugby woes<\/a> Rees-Zammit has said there is a “a load of interest” in his services but his rugby future remains unclear.<\/p>\n Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney said: “I’m over the moon Louis is coming back to rugby because it gives us him for the national team.<\/p>\n “The challenge we’ve got is we’re starting the season in September. You can have a look at what different teams are doing with their salary caps and their players.<\/p>\n “Are we in touch with Louis and trying to find a way in which we can make something work?<\/p>\n “Of course it would be fantastic. But I’m sure he’ll have lots of other offers as well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Tandy was unveiled as the new Wales coach on Thursday.\u00a0Ben Birchall\/PA Images via Getty Images New Wales…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-52377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52377","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=52377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Louis Rees-Zammit is set to return to action for Wales after calling time on his NFL dream.\u00a0Paul Harding\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
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