Wales coach drops Louis Rees-Zammit hint as he reveals 80 phone calls were made

Steve Tandy has lifted the lid on his selection process after naming his squad for the Six Nations

Tandy dropped a hint over his plans for Rees-Zammit (Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency)

Wales head coach Steve Tandy has lifted the lid on the selection process behind choosing his Six Nations squad, revealing that he made phone calls to 80 players before announcing his final picks, while also dropping a big hint over his plans for Louis Rees-Zammit.

Tandy’s 38-man squad was confirmed on Tuesday, with the main headlines from the announcement being the return of 77-cap tighthead Tomas Francis after two-and-a-half years away in France, as well as the surprise call-up of Leicester Tigers wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb.

There was also the return of several players who missed out on selection in the autumn, with the likes of Sam Costelow, James Botham and Ryan Elias all coming back into the fold.

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Equally, there were some notable omissions, with Tommy Reffell and Rio Dyer both missing out on a place in the squad, as well as the likes of Callum Sheedy, Jake Ball, Ross Moriarty and Morgan Morse.

Speaking on Scrum V, Tandy revealed that he had spoken to as many players that didn’t make the squad as those that did, opening up on the “tough” conversations he had with those who missed out.

“Between the three of us, we’ll tend to go through everyone in around selection, everyone who was in the last camp and we’ll go through every detail,” said the Wales boss as he explained the selection process.

“The three coaches, with different lenses, the analysts are involved in it as well. We look at working out the squad, but also I’ll speak to the boys who aren’t going to be in the squad., everyone will catch up in calls.

“I’d say we made around 80 phone calls on Monday. We talk about connection, that’s the type of thing we want to do. It’s always easy to have the conversation if you’re in, but sometimes if you don’t have the conversation [when you’re not in].. you want to know why and what you need to do to get back in.

“That’s been really important to us and I think that’s where the base of the connection that we see is. You can have those tougher conversations, they know it’s coming from a good place, they know the coaches actually do care about them. The more we care about them, the better they are, whether it be better for the Dragons, the Ospreys, for us, it’s only going to enhance the game in Wales.”

Revealing that more players were coming to him for feedback, Tandy added: “Those conversations, they are tough, I find it tough as well to speak to the boys but I’d rather have that ability to speak to them so they’ve got a vehicle to ask questions and voice their frustrations.

“If they need to come back at a later date to have a little bit more clarity or detail, they’ve got the ability to do that. What we’re finding, which is great, is that some boys that haven’t had conversations, that haven’t been involved, they want feedback.

“It shows that they are desperate to represent their nation, which is the ultimate thing for us.”

As for Rees-Zammit, Tandy suggested that he was open to moving the 24-year-old from wing to full-back, where he has been playing for Bristol Bears in recent weeks.

Bristol boss Pat Lam has spoken openly about how he has always seen the Welshman as a full-back, praising his kicking ability as well as his electric pace, and he may turn out for Wales in the same position during the Six Nations with Tandy admitting that he is a “high potential” option for the 15 jersey.

“I think the game now is getting more flexible in and around the players and the way the game is evolving around high ball and the adaptation pieces, and how the back field does transition into each other’s roles – wings, 15s and 10s,” he added.

“To answer your question, yeah, I definitely see Zammo as high potential around the 15, to see if he get on the ball, but then how teams take that away by being contestable. So there’s a whole host of things to think about, but yeah, you’ve seen the games he’s played at full-back and we spoke about it when he came into camp.

“But obviously [he’s] just coming back in and getting into his groove, getting back up to speed from not playing. But he’s very open and he loves that position as well.”

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