The Welsh squad announcement for the forthcoming Six Nations Championship has been overshadowed by the news that star wing Louis Rees-Zammit is stepping away from the sport to pursue his dream of a career in the NFL.
The 22-year-old, one of the hottest properties in world rugby, has been released by his club Gloucester and will head to Florida this week to join the NFL International Player Pathway.
“I have had the incredible honour of playing rugby for my country which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve never taken for granted,” Rees-Zammit, who has earned 32 caps for Wales, said.
“However, I believe that this is the right time for me to realise another professional goal of playing American football in the US. Those opportunities don’t come around very often.
“It is nothing about rugby, it is about my ambition to make my dream come true and play in the National Football League.
“As a little boy my dad always brought me up to be a big NFL fan. He used to play American football, so it is kind of to try to continue his legacy and hopefully go beyond and make him proud. That is the sport he grew up loving.” Rees-Zammit’s father, Joe, played American football in Wales, representing the Cardiff Bay Tigers as a youngster.
“Sometimes they get chances to move on,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said. “I’ve always been supportive of that. If that’s been a dream of his, trying to make it in that environment, he’ll always regret it if he doesn’t take it.”
“There’s never a dull moment in Welsh rugby,” the head coach added. “I’m probably feeling shock more than disappointment.”
In his absence Gatland named a 34-strong squad featuring five uncapped players: Cardiff quartet Cameron Winnett, Evan Lloyd, Alex Mann and Mackenzie Martin, plus Bath prop Archie Griffin.
Louis Rees-Zammit. (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)
Gatland named lock Dafydd Jenkins, 21, as Wales’ second youngest captain after Gareth Edwards, 20, a bold move after hooker Dewi Lake and back row Jac Morgan shared the duties at the World Cup. Both are currently injured.
“He’s (Jenkins) the type of guy who gets on with his job. He’s one of the last out of the gym. He works hard on his preparation and on the laptop looking at the opposition. He’ll lead by example,” Gatland said.
Taulupe Faletau is unlikely to feature in the Six Nations having not played since breaking his arm at the World Cup. He now has a calf problem.
There is a recall for flanker James Botham, grandson of cricket great Sir Ian Botham.
Wales kick off their campaign against Scotland on February 3.
Wales squad: Backs: G Davies (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Cardiff), K Hardy (Scarlets), S Costelow (Scarlets), I Lloyd (Scarlets), C Evans (Dragons), N Tompkins (Saracens), O Watkin (Ospreys), G North (Ospreys), M Grady (Cardiff), J Roberts (Scarlets), J Adams (Cardiff), R Dyer (Dragons), C Winnett (Cardiff), T Rogers (Scarlets).
Forwards: G Thomas (Ospreys), C Domachowski (Cardiff), K Mathias (Scarlets), R Elias (Scarlets), E Dee (Dragons), E Lloyd (Cardiff), K Assiratti (Cardiff), A Griffin (Bath), L Brown (Dragons), W Rowlands (Racing 92), A Beard (Ospreys), D Jenkins (Exeter, capt), Teddy Williams (Cardiff), A Wainwright (Dragons), T Reffell (Leicester), A Mann (Cardiff), J Botham (Cardiff), M Martin (Cardiff), T Basham (Dragons).
Ex-England prop named by Scots
Six years after he won six England caps under Eddie Jones prop Alec Hepburn has been called up by Scotland.
The 29-year-old is one of four uncapped players included in a 39-man squad for the upcoming Six Nations.
Hepburn has completed his three-year stand-down period to switch allegiance to the nation of his father’s birth.
Leicester prop Will Hurd, Sale winger Arron Reed – both 24 – and 22-year-old Edinburgh back Harry Paterson are the other three newcomers in Gregor Townsend’s squad.
The most notable absentees from the squad are Hamish Watson, Rory Sutherland and Chris Harris – all of whom played for the British and Irish Lions in South Africa in 2021.
Townsend revealed he is still to decide whether Jamie Ritchie will captain Scotland for the upcoming Six Nations as the Edinburgh back-rower bids to prove his form and fitness ahead of the tournament.
The 27-year-old flanker has led the national team since succeeding Stuart Hogg in the role for the 2022 summer tour of South America but has been hindered by injury since the World Cup
Scotland kick off their campaign on February 3 against Wales in Cardiff, where they have not won since 2002.
“Cardiff is a special place to play and we haven’t won there for a number of years,” he said.
“It is a challenge we feel is right for our group after the way the World Cup ended, to show who we are and what we learnt (in France),” Townsend said.
Scotland squad: Forwards: Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh), Josh Bayliss (Bath), Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow), Andy Christie (Saracens), Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh), Scott Cummings (Glasgow), Jack Dempsey (Glasgow), Rory Darge (Glasgow), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Richie Gray (Glasgow), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow), Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Will Hurd (Leicester Tigers), Johnny Matthews (Glasgow), WP Nel (Edinburgh), Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh), Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh), Sam Skinner (Edinburgh), George Turner (Glasgow), Glen Young (Edinburgh).
Backs: Adam Hastings (Gloucester), Ben Healy (Edinburgh), George Horne (Glasgow), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Rory Hutchinson (Northampton), Huw Jones (Glasgow), Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse) Stafford McDowall (Glasgow), Harry Paterson (Edinburgh), Ali Price (Edinburgh), Cameron Redpath (Bath), Arron Reed (Sale Sharks), Kyle Rowe (Glasgow), Finn Russell (Bath), Kyle Steyn (Glasgow), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh), Ben White (Toulon).
Italian centre returns from injury
Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello, who missed last year’s Rugby World Cup through injury, has been included in the country’s Six Nations squad by new head coach Gonzalo Quesada.
A new era begins for Italian rugby after the Argentine took over from Kieran Crowley, who led Italy in the last two Six Nations championships and the World Cup, and Quesada has named five uncapped players in the 34-man party.
Menoncello became the youngest Six Nations try scorer on his debut against France in 2022, but missed the World Cup after picking up a bicep injury in a warm-up game.
Italy begin their Six Nations campaign in Rome against England on February 3.
Italy squad: Forwards: Pietro Ceccarelli, Danilo Fischetti, Matteo Nocera, Luca Rizzoli, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosue Zilocchi, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Marco Manfredi, Giacomo Nicotera, Niccolo Cannone, Edoardo Iachizzi, Federico Ruzza, Andrea Zambonin, Lorenzo Cannone, Riccardo Favretto, Alessandro Izekor, Michele Lamaro, Sebastian Negri, Ross Vintcent, Manuel Zuliani
Backs: Alessandro Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo, Stephen Varney, Tommaso Allan, Paolo Garbisi, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Federico Mori, Marco Zanon, Pierre Bruno, Ange Capuozzo, Monty Ioane, Simone Gesi, Lorenzo Pani
New guard to be ushered through by Borthwick
Steve Borthwick, meanwhile, is set to usher through a new leadership guard, with veteran hooker Jamie George likely to be named England captain for the Six Nations.
Borthwick, who will name his Six Nations squad later on Wednesday, has been forced into the leadership change after regular captain Owen Farrell stood down from international duties following the World Cup. It came off the back of Courtney Lawes’ decision to retire from international rugby.
The Times reports that George, who has missed Saracens’ past two defeats to Leicester and Bordeaux because of a neck complaint, is a two-time British and Irish Lions representative and one of England’s most respected figures.
Fellow hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie and in-form versatile back Henry Slade are expected to earn recalls for the Six Nations, having controversially been looked over for the World Cup.
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Exactly. If he’d taken Piru’s advice, he’d be playing for an amateur team in London for peanuts.
Keith (no longer) of WA
Roar Rookie
Looks like the Chiefs are going to pick him up as both a wide receiver AND running back role along with special teams kick off returner (new return rules for kick off voted on this week make home a valuable asset)
Keith (no longer) of WA
Roar Rookie
He is apparently about to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs, the reigning 2 time super bowl champs
ojp44
Roar Rookie
Agreed mate and fingers crossed for him, would be an awesome story
ojp44
Roar Rookie
Yep, nothing worse than making a sweet block and the rookie RB runs into him anyway. 100% I was guilty of that alot in my first 20-30 games. What really helped me learn to read the blocking better was when I started to play full back and was doing the blocking myself. After that, on the rare occasions when we would go 'jumbo set' and I was back at RB, I had a much better understanding of what the blockers were trying to do and how to take advantage of it. I really enjoyed playing full back, but was never quite able to make the ultimate transition to the offensive line :laughing:
piru
Roar Rookie
Yep, nothing worse than making a sweet block and the rookie RB runs into him anyway. I've had to blood several young RBs as an offensive lineman (ironically I was a centre in both rugby and gridiron, had stacked on a few by the time I started playing AF!)
FunBus
Roar Rookie
Yeah, not saying he’s going to make it - the odds are against - just that he won’t fail for a lack of pace
ojp44
Roar Rookie
I think thats good take Hoy; its not a lack of athleticism, its the lack of understanding or being used to the nuances of the game... it takes time to learn. I was lucky enough to play against a Divvy 2 US College team when I was playing for Sutherland Seahawks in the Sydney gridiron comp; we were easily a physical match for them, but they spanked us because we made 'rookie mistakes' and they performed like guys who had been playing the game for years.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
All those times you quote for the NFL guys are in games, with helmets and pads. That stuff slows you down... but its clear that LRZ has plenty of gas regardless
ojp44
Roar Rookie
You are correct about Hill being a junior world champion sprinter Piru. FB (and the internet) note that LRZ runs the 100m in 10.4; Hill ran a legal 10.19 and a wind assisted 9.98 (not legal).
ojp44
Roar Rookie
RB's typically arent absolute burners (sure, some exceptions) because they need to be bulkier to tolerate the pounding they endure. I'd suggest LRZ is probably a bit tall for RB, very few RB at 6'2... Derrick Henry *(who is same height but 15-20 kgs heavier than LRZ) comes to mind, but thats it...Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Terrell Davis, Marshawn Lynch, Christian McCaffery, Nick Chubb all under 6 foot. I agree with your earlier comments Keith; most likely position would be special teams returner or perhaps WR after he learns the passing tree and then all the variations to the routes that have been called based on how the Defence lines up.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
How does he go running in pads and a helmet FB ? I dont think anyone is questioning LRZ's pace or that he is good at rugby... its just a very difficult transition to make. Anyway, best of luck to him, I hope he stays healthy and has great success.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
I found the running behind blockers to be the hardest part of the transition between being a centre in rugby and an RB in in gridiron; 100% does not come naturally.
Biff
Roar Rookie
I think piru is on the money re the gear you have to wear in the NFL. Christian Wade is a guy I'm very familiar with, as he spent 3 years at the Bills. In rugby, he's been clocked at faster than 11m/s (24.6 mph), and he was the third-fastest player in the NFL in the 2019 pre-season, clocking 21mph, 0.1mph behind the fastest player, Saquon Barkley. There's a fair bit of variability in all of these clocked speeds, but I think we can agree Rees-Zammit has got plenty of toe. Let's see how he does at the testing in Florida.
piru
Roar Rookie
GB's O line definitely got the job done, but will be tested against Bosa and the other niners DL. I do love some good line play
Keith (no longer) of WA
Roar Rookie
Yeah something is wrong with the Eagles…. Hurts is aloof and disconnected… Siriani might have lost the locker room as they went 10-1 then lost 5 of 6 last games…I watched the entire game (I’m a mad Cowboys supporter so the Eagles are what Freo/Collingwood is to West Coast ie do love to beat ‘‘em and love to see ‘‘em pummeled) so barracked for Bucs also… Well, I watched the Cowboys get their butts handed to them…, the only ones who didn’t see it coming were the Cowboys themselves… Kyle Shanahan (49’ers) has a ‘tree’ offence set up that disguises the play and is the reason they’ve knocked us over for two years in the playoffs…. Our defence guru Dan Quinn can’t stop it with his system as we don’t have any big linebackers and so we can’t stop the run. Two of his former assistants use the same system, one at Miami and one at Green Bay…(Adam Stenovich -your offensive coordinator, and your head coach Le Fleur is also a long term friend and colleague of Shanahans)…and we’ve lost both… VERY frustrating to watch GB’s Aaron Jones run through into the secondary virtually untouched…. 49ers this week… should be an epic match. Similar systems, two of the best young QB’s going around… I like Loves accuracy (but he did have a lot of time as our Micah Parsons couldn’t get to him…????) over Purdy… couple of stars on each team.. doubs/Jones vs tittle/mccaffery …… hard to pick….
piru
Roar Rookie
I'm reduced to highlights, having given Kayo the boot when rugby moved to Stan - Bucs looked sharp against the Eagles. Very pleased my Packers managed to get past dem Boys but we'll be up against it versus the 49ers I think. Still, no one thought we'd get beat Dallas so anything's possible, Love is another potential superstar QB at Green Bay
Keith (no longer) of WA
Roar Rookie
@Piru - You watching the playoffs?
Keith (no longer) of WA
Roar Rookie
Well he is apparently pretty quick there.... The times are from games and can involve as little as a 3 yard sprint (before getting tackled :stoked: ) but most are actually 1/2 to length of field Touchdown runs.... ie they've made a break and gone on to score...
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
No, there will only be a few bones left to plunder by the time they arrive.