Louis Rees-Zammit: 'I’m sure Jonny will be excited to play against me - and I’m the same'
Louis Rees-Zammit could face his Gloucester teammate in Cardiff next weekend
©Martin Bennett/Gloucester Rugby
Wales against England is always a titanic battle up front, but after the weekend’s round two Six Nations matches were lit up by wonder tries, the next clash between the old rivals could also be settled out wide.
At BT Murrayfield on Saturday, 20-year-old Welsh flyer Louis Rees-Zammit was named Player of the Match after two excellent tries in their 25-24 triumph over 14-man Scotland.
Earlier on the same day, England secured a 41-18 win over Italy at Twickenham with Jonny May’s amazing diving finish the highlight as Eddie Jones’ side knocked the stuffing out of the visitors just before the interval.
Rees-Zammit, who now has four tries from six Tests, was wearing number 14 on his back in Edinburgh.
And May, now on 32 tries from 62 caps for his country, was wearing 11 in London and that means the Gloucester duo could be set to face off directly against each other at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on February 27.
Both will be on Warren Gatland’s mind ahead of the British & Irish Lions tour later this year and Rees-Zammit told TRU: “I train with Jonny every day at Gloucester and learn a lot from him.
“It’s going to be interesting to actually play against him. I did in the Autumn [when England won 24-13 in Llanelli], but he wasn’t my opposite winger.
“It’s a bit different this time. It should be a good show. I’m sure Jonny will say he’s excited to play against me - and I’m the same. We are going back to the Principality now. Obviously, it’s a massive game and getting two wins in the first two games definitely helps.
“We’re going to be as motivated as ever to go into that game and try and get a win. The boys will be absolutely buzzing and we’ll go all guns blazing. Hopefully, we put on a performance that gets a result.
“It’s head-down now, hopefully, we train well over the next couple of weeks and put in a performance against England.”
“It bounced up lovely for me!”
In a breathless match against Scotland, Rees-Zammit scored a crucial try just before half-time to put them 17-8 behind after the hosts had threatened to run away with things.
Scotland were down a man following tighthead prop Zander Fagerson’s 54th minute red card, but they were ahead 24-20 when Rees-Zammit scored a sublime second five-pointer which proved to be the winner.
It was in the 70th minute and the player recounts: “I was calling for the ball nice and early as I saw there was a lot of space on the outside.
"Thankfully, Willis Halaholo gave it to me and I tried to use my gas to get on the outside of their winger [Duhan van der Merwe].
“Thankfully I did that and then saw there was no backfield [cover] which is always nice to see. It gives you that opportunity to put it [a kick] through and try and get the bounce. It bounced up lovely for me!
“It [scoring tries for Wales] means so much to me and my family. Hopefully, I can do it again in our next few games.
“We’ve worked so hard as a group to try and get performances and wins. We know it wasn’t pretty at the weekend, but all that matters is getting the five points.
“We’re nowhere near the finished article. Hopefully, we’ll show more in the next few games. We’ve worked so hard in training and it’s all starting to come together now.
“However, we’re not starting [games] very well. We need to come out the blocks a lot harder. Both games, Ireland and Scotland, we started with a 20-minute period of conceding penalties and we lacked a lot of discipline, they took the lead.
“Thankfully, we’re coming out the blocks hard in the second half. We’re going to try and replicate that from the starting whistle now.”
Making the step-up: “In training, I was blowing after five minutes!”
You often hear players talking about the step-up they have to make from club rugby to the international game.
Rees-Zammit is no different and even though he has looked right at home for both Gloucester and Wales of late, he admits the jump took some getting used to.
“It [international rugby] is a lot different,” he states.
“The physicality, the speed of the game, when I first came into Wales camp for the last Six Nations it was a shock, even in training. Obviously, I didn’t play then, but in training, I was blowing after five minutes!
“I’ve worked with the S&C guys and all the management and I am a lot fitter now. It’s a lot different to the Premiership. In the Scotland match, I was playing against one of my [Gloucester] teammates Chris Harris, who was amazing, and there were a few other Premiership players like Stuart Hogg on their side.
“The intensity is a lot different at international level, but it’s similar players. It’s still very hard to play against guys like that.”
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